Rossa's round the World Tour 2008/09

Final post: Cote D’Azur, L’Arc de Triomphe and Oscar Wilde

2009-10-08T17:53:00.001+01:00

Final post: Cote D’Azur, L’Arc de Triomphe and Oscar Wilde

01 Oct I arrived in Saint Tropez this afternoon and was surprised that it was a small fishing village/town with an overdeveloped Maritime tourism sector. I couldn’t find a beach either but that said the town was lovely and there were some lovely boats there. An hour or so later I started moving up along the coast to find a beach and take a dip. The next village was Saint Maxine and there were some nice beaches there. I had a swim and a shower and made some Lunch. I continued on along the coast toward Nice and to the airport to collect Eilis who was flying in to travel with me for another week. After I collected her we made our way to Monaco/ Monte Carlo and it was quiet a sight. It’s a city on a hillside and is immaculate. Its very over built with no open areas and is very expensive. We walked along the harbour and looked at the endless rows of exotic boats and then walked up to the castle, the home of the Grimaldi family who are the royalty of Monaco, and had a look around there and admired the view. After that we hit the road making our way toward Nice before stopping for the night.

02 Oct Into Nice this morning for the second time and for a look around. Didn’t do anything much different but went to the tourist office and got some info on a town nearby called St Paul De Vence. It was a incredible little place on a hill walled in and only pathways as streets. After that we made our way to Cannes and it’s a beautiful place with a fabulous promenade but very overstated. There are beautiful people, wealthy people, some with both and the majority are the wannabees that sit around pretending they are rich and cool but are the ones I feel sorry for. There are old ladies with more plastic than Fisher-Price with their Gucci handbags, Prada shoes and Peugeot bicycles. We walked around and looked at the place where the film festival is held. They were preparing for some Disney cartoon launch and were dolling the place up. Its quiet a plain old building without the glitz but that is all added on, on the special occaisions. Next stop tomorrow will be in Avignon and on our way there we had a run in with the local Cannes Police. Apparently I ran a red light and they drove in front of me to stop and have a word. Through a loss of communication, I mistook their raised finger as an indication that I was about to go down a one way and to detour. I gave them the thumbs up, turned a corner and drove off. All sirens started blaring as they chased down the road after me, the finger meant that they wanted a word and according to them Muggins made a run for it. They were furious and with my best French bleated out the excuse moi monsieur, je suis desole. To make matters worse they wanted to know why I wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. I tried to explain that I had just taken it off so I could get out to talk to him but with his English and my French we might as well been a sheep and a pig having a discussion. It probably worked in my favour as they abandoned the situation as a genuine mistake, La feckin Irlandes and we were more trouble that it was worth. My first thoughts afterwards were, at last a good yarn for the blog

03 Oct Drove to Avignon this morning; it is a nice walled in city with lovely cobbled streets and typical French cafés and restaurants everywhere. The big draw in the town was the Palais des Papes or the Palace of the Popes. Not much in the place but a fine medieval building. After that we were on our way to Grenoble, a city on the edge of the Alps. It was a pleasant enough place but not much there for the summer visitor but apparently comes alive during the ski season in winter. We decided as time allows that we would go to Geneva and made our way towards there. It seems like I have developed a problem with my Alternator (the device that charges the car battery from the engine). It’s grinding away so we are now driving during the day to save power on lights and no radio, fan, laptop, fridge and minimum use of Mary etc. It’s a pain in the arse and its Saturday today with no hope of getting it fixed or tomorrow for that matter and the next day or two after that we will be in Switzerland and a breakdown would cost the earth. So, minimum demand on electrics (= minimum alternator use) and all going I’ll get home in a weeks time still intact.

04 Oct Drove to Geneva in Switzerland this morning and it’s a lovely place situated on lake Geneva. As it was Sunday there were a lot of people around enjoying the sun but all the shops were closed. We walked around the lakeside and through the malls of expensive shops selling the best watches in the world. After that we headed further up the lake and into Lausanne, a similar city in lots of ways and very pleasant. I think I would go back to Geneva but is very expensive. We drove back into France and stopped short of Dijon for the night.

05 Oct Into Dijon this morning and the cold and wet of northern Europe was as evident as home. We walked around Dijon for an hour and headed off toward Paris. About 5 hours later we hit the Paris evening rush hour. We crawled through the city to our accommodation and found out that their car parking does not accommodate vehicles as high as mine. The car park across the road quoted me €49 per day and they were told where to go. I spoke to reception and they called them and asked them to try and revise the price. €40 was their best price but still too dear (cars were €15). I parked out on the street instead. That night we had a walk around the locality and had a meal in an amazing Thai restaurant. It was like been back in Ko Samui. We headed to a wine bar and had a couple bottles before heading back to the hotel for the night and boy was I looking forward to a nights sleep in a proper bed.

06 Oct Up and out of bed this morning at 8.30am and down to the van before 9am (ticket warden time). I said goodbye to Eilis for what was a short trip but good fun all the same. I pointed Mary to Lorient in Brittany, a 6 hour drive away. I had decided to visit and surprise an old buddy of mine Jean Marc Pierre, a French friend of mine that lived in Ireland for over 5 years and had opened his own restaurant in his home village outside Lorient.
Driving out of a wet Paris in morning rush hour was interesting. It so less hectic than I imagined and drivers are remarkably courteous and the pace is quite sedate for a capital like it. I wanted to drive around the notorious Arc de Triumphe roundabout but didn’t know whether my route would take it in or not, but lo and behold there it was straight ahead. The roundabout is huge, has no markings, no traffic lights and no apparent order other than Parisians know how to use it, and it processes an unbelievable volume of traffic from its 10 exits/entrances. The only way to tackle it is no fear and constant momentum, stop and you will be swallowed. What a buzz. I was driving on for about 3 or 4 hours and started seeing the signs for Cherbourg. I had my ferry from Cherbourg booked for the 10th of Oct and it was now only the 06th. The ferries go every 2 days and I thought that I might just go home now rather than drive all the way to Lorient and risk Jean Marc not being there, too busy to see me or the 15 years since seeing him may be too much. The weather forecast was bad for the next few days and there is little to do in France when it is wet and now cold. I stopped the van, turned around and set course for Cherbourg. I arrived in Cherbourg a couple of hours later and changed my ticket to tonight’s sailing. I went down to the local wine warehouse and bought 4 cases of wine for the family and by then it was time to go through to boarding. As I was driving through I saw this girl in an army uniform with a huge machine gun that must have weighed a ton. She was no more than 19 and had raindrops all over her glasses (god help us if she started shooting) She looked so innocent and had a hard man frown to help her look more intimidating. I couldn’t help but smirk. I was told to stop and open the doors of the van. As punishment for my smugness they went through the van with a fine toothcomb and took everything out of its place and didn’t put anything back. With all the doors wide open they did it in front of all the other cars and they looked on as my home was turned upside down. Bloody frogs. After all my heroine and other concealed narcotics were confiscated I finally was on the ferry and settled down to dinner. Later in the evening I met Harry Belle, a Galway solicitor and had a good chat with him. I found a couch in a corner of the front lounge and set up the laptop, with a bag of sweets from the pick and mix, & I sat down to 2 episodes of ‘Only fools and horses’ and a movie before retiring for the night.

07 Oct This is my last entry for the European blog and I suppose is one of mixed emotions. On one hand I’m looking forward to going home to family and friends and on the other it’s a facing of reality and the prospect of jobs etc. I will miss life on the road and the seeing of new places but it was also a life of uncertainty, risk and constant struggle of sorts, but maybe that’s life in general and presents itself in one form or another.
I am travelling on the Irish ferries vessel, the Oscar Wilde. Throughout the ship there are pictures, brief accounts of Mr.Wildes life and his quotes which are hilarious. My favourites are ‘Everything in moderation, including moderation itself’ or ‘the basis of a good family life… Fathers should not be seen or heard’. On entering America he told the customs official…. I have nothing to declare but my genius. Class stuff.
I had a grand nights sleep last night, the ship is very quiet and I had 2 sleeping bags and my pillow laid out in the front lounge and a lovely sea view in the morning. As I sat there this morning with my coffee and croissant, I could have been in the presidential suite with the whole front lounge overlooking the oncoming seas to myself. I saw a seagull 6 hours from shore which must be 150km away from land and a little further on the Irish Navy had stopped a ship and were boarding it. The seas are choppy enough but not rough. I felt like a baby being rocked to sleep last night.Finally I got off the boat in Rosslare at 2pm and drove 5 hours to Galway. As usual I didn’t let them know of my arrival beforehand and just walked into the kitchen. 14,000 miles and 12 weeks later…T’was good to be back.

Sicily, Sardinia and the Sistine chapel (Part 2)

2009-10-05T22:42:00.001+01:00

24 Sep Out of the petrol station after a night of torrential rain and high winds in my memory and a cappuccino and croissant in my belly. It was great being all snuggled up in the sleeping bag with the wind rocking the van and the rain pelting it from all sides in the full knowledge that I was warm and dry and there was nothing nature was going to do to change all that. I arrived in Pula (about 20km outside Calgiari) and met up with Mum and Dad. I had been driving around and around Pula looking for the hotel with no luck. I asked a gardener and he waved me onward and then I asked this auld lad on a bike (which happened to be my father) where it was and he was kind enough to have me follow him to the hotel. It was great to see them both again and we got on the hotel bicycles and headed into town. It rained very heavily for the whole afternoon and after a look at the wedding hotel and a bite to eat we retired to the hotel to read and have a siesta (well, I went to the van). That evening we went to a restaurant for dinner and dad was looking up his dictionary for the word for ‘sauce’. I told him it was ‘Formosa’ which actually means ‘Buxom’. Not letting him embarrass himself I told him its real meaning and ‘salsa’ was the correct word for sauce. After a great laugh at that Dad though it would be really funny and called over the waitress and while pointing at me said ‘He thinks you are really Formosa!’ how embarrassing. I guess she spat in my Pizza. After dinner I drove to the airport to pick up my sister Dearbhla who arrived in at midnight. I retired to the car park in my van for the night.

25 Sep Out of the van this morning and had a bit of discreet brekkie in the back and into Dearbhlas room for a shower. Later that morning the 4 of us drove into Cagliari with Mum and Dearbhla up front with me and Dad lying on the bed in the back. We had a look around the town for a couple of hours and due to Louises late arrival into Cagliari on a delayed flight we went to pick her up from the airport instead of Thelma. We got times mixed up due to the time difference so we sat out on the little park in front of arrivals and had a little picnic as we basked in the sunshine. Louise finally arrived and we all were there to greet her. We all piled into the van liked the Travellers with more passengers than seats and drove 40mins to Pula. We sat by the pool drinking beer for the afternoon and went into town for dinner that night.

26 Sept Up and out this morning and having decided on a family day out, we all headed down to the supermarket in the van to get our bits and pieces for our picnic. We headed of to a town called Chia 15kms away and drove right down onto the local beach with the van. We walked around the area and afterwards made up a fine picnic with all the trimmings complete with table and chairs all laid out. Afterwards we walked across the headland to one of the postcard beaches and we all went swimming. It was like being back on a family holiday again. That afternoon we met up with Mgt and Bryan Flannery in their hotel apartment for drinks and a chat before a quick shower and change and off then to a drinks reception in Sean & Miriam’s hotel apartment. After that we went down to a local restaurant where 60 of the brides guests were fed and watered (too much watering) After a lot of shouting, roaring and singing we fell home after 12 having had particularly good craic with the Ballyburkers and Sheila McManus.

27 Sept After breakfast and elevenses at Bryan and Margarets, me and Dad cycled into town to see a museum. I have to say I don’t know much about it but it was a bunch of auld pots from an ancient civilisation that existed on the island thousands of years ago. I wish I found it more interesting but I don’t and was out of there in 10 minutes. Off down the town on my own I saw a procession of bulls outside the church and they were the biggest bulls I ever seen They were as wide as I’m tall and about 7ft in height. They were marched around the town in ceremonial gear but I didn’t catch what the whole thing represented. Later on myself and Dearbhla went swimming from a nearby beach before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. At 3.50pm, I piled the whole family into the van and the Geraghty tinkers went to ‘Da Weddin boss’ I pulled up outside the church and they all piled out much to the delight of the Irish contingent. Thelma arrived and looked lovely in her white wedding dress and the mass was all in Italian. Everybody commented how lovely the service was but I wouldn’t have known as I didn’t understand a word. At the end, the congregation poured out before the bride and groom and we were all armed with rice and things to throw at them as they came out. The mothers broke plates in front of them and was very nice and ritualistic at the same time. We headed to the reception via Bryan and Margarets (for tea) and were entertained by musicians during our 7 course dinner. It was a good night and different and interesting. At 2 am we went home.

28 Sept I headed off today from the family and the wedding party on my tour of the island. Going was slow and tight narrow mountain roads of the southwest corner of Sardinia didn’t pass fast enough. In my loop of the area I was longer doing it than I expected and as light started to fade I found myself within 30kms of where I started. I decided than instead of trying to find a place for the night I would go back to Pula and rejoin the wedding party for one more night. I explained to them all many times the reason for my return but Sean McManus preferred his version that I got lost and ended back where I started. We had a great night tonight in Sean and Miriams apartment for drinks and snacks before heading down to the hotel restaurant for a lovely 4 course dinner with Fionnuala and Brian. I said my last goodbyes to a very nice bunch of people and was a great end to an enjoyable stay at Pula with family and freinds.

29 Sept I finally hit the road once and for all this morning bound for my friend Tino up North in Mamoiada. I was on the road for over 4 hours and finally got there about 90 minutes later than expected. I drove to his girlfriends museum and she arrived to meet me. Unfortunately he could not and was caught up at work. She gave me a personal tour of her Museum (Museo Delle Maschere Mediterranee) a museum of ceremonial masks used in the Mediterranean region over the last thousand of years. There were some amazing masks and costumes (including one from Enniskillen in Northern Ireland) and was very interesting. She decided to bring me up to the workshop where a lot of the ceremonial masks are made and I met the craftsman who was telling me that his brother lives outside Galway and is married to an Irish girl. After that I headed on towards the port, Olida, 160km further North to get the ferry to Genoa in Northern Italy. The ferry journey is 10 hours so I decided to get a couch and kip there for the night. Unfortunately a staff member said I wasn’t allowed sleep there so I thought maybe I could sneek down into the van a kip there. I did that and the heat down there would knock a horse so had to come back into the main area again.

30 Sept Off the ferry in Genoa this morning and into the Italian morning rush hour. Genoa has more tunnels, flyovers, bridges and underpasses to confuse the best motorists and sat navs and Im afraid me and Mary were no match. Completely lost I managed to get out and onto the motorway. I saw a bit of Genoa from the van but unfortunately that was that. On then towards Nice, I pulled in for a rest along the way and was in Nice that afternoon. Nice is a beautiful city on the sea with a fabulous coastline. I desperately had to do laundry and after that walked down the main street, looked at the cathedral and walked part of the promenade. Lined with swanky hotels and casinos, I feel it is very representative of the French Riviera or the Cote D’Azur as they say locally. After a half day in Nice I started making my way to Saint Tropez.

Sicily, Sardinia and the Sistine chapel (Part 1)

2009-09-28T09:28:00.002+01:00

17 Sept I drove to the ferry terminal at the toe of Italy to catch the ferry to Sicily. I was following Marys directions when I spotted the ticket kiosk. Outside the kiosk I saw this lad waving me on and I drove up to him. He had a little English and he asked me if I wanted to get the ferry to Sicily, I said yes and he brought me over to the desk. I asked how much, yer man looked at my vehicle and said €45. €45! I said, its only 25 mins. The lad with the English said to your man, only small car, only small car as if he was fighting my side. €45 was the price, so I paid it like I had any choice. Back to the van and there was another lad there washing my windscreen. I hopped in the van and started up and the lad with the English held the door. What about tip? He said. For what? I replied. For help you and my friend for tip for wash your glass. I didn’t ask for your help. He slammed the door and shouted some expelatives at me, Ciao, I replied and off I drove. I didn’t know where to go either and somehow managed to get in the wrong queue. I boarded the ferry and into a section for vehicles no higher than 1.9m and I am 2.05m. Traffic stopped, all jammed. Cars behind and I can’t go forward. Yer man, the ferry traffic lad is shouting at me in Italian, I'm saying no intendo, the captain is looking down from above and blowin this god almighty loud horn telling the lad to sort it out. He shouts up ‘no capiche Italiano!’ anyway he manouvers me into a corner and thank god another Italian arrives and does the same cock-up as me. Were both huddled into the side as they get the cars by and after loading they get us out. Thank god again for that Italian as he took directions to the right ferry and I followed him. Got to Sicily and it started raining heavy. I drove to a recommended spot called Taormina but I’m sure its lovely in the sunshine but not in the rain. I then decided to drive an hour inland up the mountain roads to have a look at Mount Etna. I drove up through little villages and I’m sure it was the first right hand drive cars some of those people ever saw. They stopped and stared. The closer I got to Etna, the scenery changed and the road was cut through the lava. Just a sea of black lumpy rock. Etna was no great shakes, but lovely driving to get there. After that I set course for another popular town called Syracuse intending to arrive tomorrow. It’s difficult to get internet access here or if they have it charge a fortune for it (€5 for 30 mins Wifi I was quoted day before yesterday) so I spotted a McDonalds drive in and parked up and fair play to McDonalds their free wifi is a joy to use. After all emails and blog update completed, I was on my way and pulled into a service station along the way.

18 Sept No showers at this service station this morning so I drove into Syracuse and went to the beach. All the main public beaches have parking and showers so in I went for a swim and a shower after. Fresh as a daisy I went into town for a look around. It’s a lovely old city and has not got the panic usually associated with Italian centres. After the walk around, I went to the Archaeological Park to see an old Coliseum ruin and a Greek theatre carved out of rock. I decide to drive down to the southernmost tip of Sicily and Europe and maybe spend the night there. Like most redneck towns and their colourful inhabitants this place was no exception. The place I was headed for is called Porto Palo and I had to go through a town called Pachino. It’s a 50% farming 50% fishing village and smelled a fish and shit. I made a sandwich and coffee and was on my way after that. I co-incided my arrival with sunset and as it was dark when I left I decided to get to the motorway and pull into the first suitable spot. As it was a rural enough location and the motorway ended where I was at there were no service stations for miles, so I pulled into an SOS bay which are half rest stops, half breakdown places with a phone to Emergency services if required.

19 Sept At 3am this morning I had a knock on the window, it was the Police. They wanted to know what I was doing. I said I was sleeping, and they asked if I was OK. I said I was. They gabbled in Italian to each other and said it was OK and good night. I subsequently read up that it is illegal to camp in undesignated locations but when I got up later that morning I saw broken beer bottles, syringes, condoms and other things strewn about. I suppose they were more concerned about other activities. After a bit of breakfast I was on my way to a place on the north of the island called Cefalu. I had to drive by Syracuse again so I popped down to my usual spot for a swim and shower. On the road again I drove through the centre of Sicily and it’s a barren spot. Mt Etna was towering down on me as I drove by and was have an auld smoke for herself. It was billowing out of 3 places as far as I could see. I got to Cefalu that afternoon and it was a friend of mine Declan Sexton that recommended it to me. It’s a lovely little town on the beach with old city walls and lots of little cobbled streets. There is a festival going on at the moment called the ‘Sherbeth Festival’. It’s a festival of Ice cream makers of ‘Geletaria’. They are all selling little samples of all kinds of ice cream including Tomato, Gherkin and red wine flavours. I parked on the road along the beach for the night nicely positioned to run down the ramp and into the sea.

20 Sept Down the ramp into the sea and under the shower, I was then ready for one of my morning cappuccinos in one of the beach cafes. A while later I was on the road to Palermo. The guide book said don’t drive in Palermo unless you have a death wish, well that was too tempting a challenge to resist so off I went. Now, I was cheating a bit by intentionally leaving it until Sunday but better safe than sorry. It was probably the right thing to do as it was relatively sedate and I drove in, had a look around and I was on my way to a beachside resort called San Vito lo Capo on the North west coast. It’s a nice remote village and there is an olive oil festival with all the growers in the region exhibiting their wares. I promise I won’t get too excited about the festivities. I had a drive around the coastline which was lovely.

21 Sept I moved the van last night into a vacant space in the beach car park so at 8am ran from the van into the sea. Great to wake you up in the morning a swim and even nicer when you have a shower to wash off the salty water. However the showers were not in operation so up the road and into a campsite to use theirs. On the road then toward Trapani to get the ferry to Sardinia. I wasn’t sure what time the ferry would be at or where it was leaving from but eventually sniffed it out. Unfortunately the ferries only go once a week and that was yesterday. The other option was the ferry from Palermo but that turned out to only go on Saturdays (2 days ago) so no good either. I resigned myself to the fact that there was no chance of getting to Sardinia via Sicily and would have to backtrack through mainland Italy towards the port North of Rome. I drove 230 miles from one end of Sicily to the other and another 200 miles towards Salerno. The mozzies are out in force tonight and are particularly vicious biters despite lots of repellent. I’m spraying repellent and applying Anthisan bite cream simultaneously but still hear that terrible sound as they fly past your ear. I finally dug out the unused mosquito net and fell asleep under that.

22 Sep Woke up this morning with more bites. How the hell did that happen and then I spotted the feckers. Mickey & Mo were dead ahead, caught in the net. They must have known at that point that certain death was ahead of them. As the giant hand finally made contact with them, their bellies full of another mans blood squirted onto the nice new white net. The deed was done, revenge was had. Anyway after that early drama I was on the road to Rome, all 500km of it. Q: What does Rossa have in common with visits to Rome? It pours rain and the Sistine Chapel is closed? Correct! In I drove to the centre of Rome on a busy Tuesday, found a parking space 1.5km from the Vatican and walked in the rain to and from the Sistine Chapel but with as much Leonardo De Vinchi under my belt as a result as the dog in the street. I drove about 50km outside of Rome to a service station on the way to Cittivechi, the port town that has the ferry to Sardinia. I went into the restaurant for a bite to eat and they were shooting a scene for an Italian soap opera. The scene involved some lad giving out to a kid at their table, I suppose it was a father and son. It was a huge set up for such a small piece. Anyway they didn’t need me for the Irish tourist bit so I retired to my movie star motor home.

23 Sep Drove to the port this morning and with not too much difficulty found it. During my search I stopped at this info kiosk at the port and asked yer wan if she spoke English. She said she did and I asked where the Moby ferry company was. She blabbered away in a language that must be an ancient relative to English but I certainly hadn’t a clue what she was saying. I went on in the direction I saw her wave her hand in and found the place soon after. Thanks to my sisters Louise and Dearbhla for their research and derv for booking it all for me, I sailed through (excuse the pun) without any problem even though my booking was for a car with the dimensions of a van (cars are getting so big nowadays, aren’t they?) While I was waiting to board a lad came up to me and asked me if I was from Ireland, I said I was and where was he from. He said Sardinia but lived in Dublin for 3 years. His family have a vineyard and olive groves and he runs a B&B. He invited me to stay a night and I may well do before I leave. I arrived in Sardinia 5 hours later and 270km from Calgiari and hit the road. I drove for about an hour and pulled in 100km from Calgiari for the night

Austria to Italy via Hungary & Slovenia

2009-09-17T18:42:00.000+01:00

Austria to Italy via Hungary & Slovenia

06 Sept After a trip to the bakery and a nice coffee and croissant breakfast I left Johannes and Austria and was on my way to Bratislava in Slovakia. It took me a few hours to get there and spent the afternoon walking around. The old town is lovely with a nice castle and reminded me of a miniature Prague. That evening I started on my way to Budapest in Hungary and pulled in to a service station 20km from the city. I went into the shop to buy something to eat but didn’t have any Hungarian money. I asked the girl behind the counter if she would take euro, no problem she said. How much for that sandwich? I asked. €5 she said, the conversion was equal to €3. I asked if that was the rip off price or is it her profit on the side? She didn’t like that but her silence and her pout answered that question. I’ll pay for it by visa; I said (knowing that visa would charge them a levy). Sly bitch.

07 Sept Was sound asleep in the wee hours of the morning with my earplugs in subconsciously enjoying the silence, until my new neighbours arrived. I was semi awoken by screeching and wailing and decided to ignore it but it continued on and curiosity finally got the better of me. I peered out though me curtains and I saw what I was expecting; pigs… and lots of them. A huge 3 level, 2 trailer truck kindly parked beside me with its cargo of Banshee swine. They were most probably on their way to the slaughter house, and they knew it. If that wasn’t bad enough, my necessary air ventilation was also accommodating their stench. Wafts of pig poo were joining the party in the back of the van. I considered getting up and moving the van but whatever my discomfort, I’m sure it was a million times worse for those poor auld pigs.
I got up at 8.30am and had to get out the gas a whip up some breakfast, tea and muesli bars as I had no money and didn’t want to go back into that shop.
Off into downtown Budapest, timing my entry into the city for 9.15am to avoid rush hour, but rush hour is all day in that place as I found out. It took me 30 mins to go 1km. I parked up and asked in an adjacent restaurant If it was OK to park there. The girl said it was and there were no clamps or tickets on that street. Great! I told her I would be back for lunch in her restaurant. Budapest is divided by the Danube River and one side is called Buda and the other side is called Pest. I was parked on the Buda side and decided to cross the Old Bridge and see Pest first, have lunch in that nice restaurant and see Buda after lunch. Pest is lovely with beautiful old buildings, an amazing Parliament house, a bit like Westminster, and nice pedestrian walkways. I walked along the Danube for a bit, crossed over another bridge and over to my restaurant. They recommended the special, Paprika chicken with home made noodles. Sounded great, and after a few minutes out it came. It was a leg and I reckon you’d get more meat on a flys leg. I ate 4 bits (it was gone by then) and the noodles were Gnocchi, macaroni stuff. The sauce was nice though but still I complained. I said that was a bad bit of chicken with no meat. They said sorry and offer me a bit of bread with a pumpkin seed on top (tiny thing, the size of a Leonidas chocolate) I laughed and I said no thanks. I was going to give them the tourist rip off act but bit my tongue. They had given me valuable advice on the parking and I paid them and left no tip. Ironic they call the place Hungary, as it accurately described my state when I left.
Pushing on with less than 3 weeks to get to Sardinia, I started my 350km drive to Ljubljana in Slovenia. I drove within 100km of it and stopped for the night.

08 Sep Up and out this morning around 9am and after shower and breakfast was on the road enroute to Ljubljana. It didn’t take long to get there but took an age to get parking. It seems that cities that weren’t bombed in the war do not have good public transport systems and the population rely heavily on the car. Anyway finally got a spot and off I went to check the place out. There’s nothing much in its small centre but what they have are lovely pedestrianised streets and walkways along the river, a nice refurbished castle on a hill overlooking the town and has a great vibe to it. I walked up to the castle, around the town and lunch before I set off again. I headed towards Italy but via a mountain range on the border. There was a mountain pass I read about that was worth driving over and after quiet a bit of looking I found it. It was very nice but not as good as the Conor pass in Kerry. It was getting late and was dark when I reached the Italian border. I hate driving after dark as full wits and concentration are needed in the day without adding the darkness to the problem. Driving through the bit of Italy was tough enough with new road systems and I was relieved to get to the first service station on the motorway.

09 Sept Up and out at 9am and after the usual service station shower, croissant and that oh so lovely Italian coffee I was on the road to Venice. Mary was in one of her moods and wasn’t playing ball. She completely turned off on me on 2 occasions, women. Despite the hiccups I was on the bridge to Venice within a couple of hours. Parking in Venice is a joke and a price of €27 was asked for my day in Venice. I told Mary to find me another car park and down the road another option was offered at €18 which I took. Venice is staggering in so many ways. Firstly is so much bigger than I ever imagined, and a complete maze and beautiful at the same time. I had begun not to use maps anymore and follow my nose but Venice is different. Even with the map I got lost countless times. I meandered through the street looking at the shops selling Venetian masks (no blinds though), wood carvings, t-shirts and food. I got a pizza slice in the train station and the oil from the pepperoni dribbled all over my t-shirt and shorts and I was walking around like a right mucker for the day. Anybody that asked me where I was from, I said England. Ha ha. I walked from the train station to St Marks square, the piece de resistance of Venice to see the amazing architecture but was very curious to see if the story of the €7 coffee was true, and it was, Cappuccinos were about €10 bearing in mind Italian coffees are tiny. I walked around Venice for 6 hours and slowly found my way back to the van and hit the road towards Verona. On Italian Motorways you have to pay tolls based on the Kms driven. One must go through a booth at the start to collect a ticket and that ticket is scanned further along and you pay accordingly. On one particular occasion one of the tellers (He was a few bottles short of a six pack), an innocent young lad with thick glasses got the shock of his life when I pulled up at his counter to pay as he looked into the van and saw nobody was driving ( of course, I was on the other side) He turned with a jolt as I leaned across with the ticket, and couldn’t help laughing at him. He probably charged me for a truck.

10 Sept Up and out at 9am and 20 mins drive into Verona. Verona is a nice town and is a mini Rome with a Coliseum and big mafia family mansions of old. One of the most famous things about Verona is a love story that William Shakespeare picked up on and wrote Romeo and Juliet based on it. R & J were based on either side of feuding Mafia families and the balcony where Juliet used to look down on Romeo is preserved and there for all to see. There is also a brass statue of Juliet and legend has it if you rub Juliet’s left breast 3 times with your left hand you will have increased fortune in love. She has a very shiny left breast indeed and I was not going to miss out on that perfectly acceptable ritual. After a couple hours in Verona it was off to Lake Garda which had lots of signs that the Garda Siochana at home would have a laugh at such as Garda Holiday resort, Garda Restaurant and bar & Garda Massage. I didn’t see Garda brown envelope but I didn’t stay too long other than a stroll along the shore promenade and did my laundry in a nearby camping ground. Back on the Autostrada (Motorway) and made way to Bologna and as usual timed it to arrived in its outskirts just as it was about to get dark.

11 Sept Arrived into Bologna about 10.30am this morning. I had read a John Grisham novel recently and the character was based in Bologna most of the time so it was interesting to see what he had been describing. There is an endless amount of history here, renaissance architecture and is all very interesting if you are into that sort of thing. I walked around for a few hours and was on my way to Maranello, a small town an hour away to see its most famous resident, Ferrari. Firstly I went to the museum and paid nearly twice the BMW/Mercedes price for half the experience. Don’t get me wrong it was great to see all the exotic sports cars and racing cars from the recent and distant past but it lacked the punch the Germans delivered. One of the biggest trump cards of Ferrari recently was the achievements of Michael Schumacher in Formula 1. The only Mi Schumacher stuff on display was the front left tyre of his formula 1 car that won in Japan 6 years ago and a few posters. Otherwise it was a collection of mediocre proportions. It was still worth seeing though and after that I went to the Ferrari shop where Ferrari were willing to advertise themselves on merchandise that you will be wearing and charge you a ridiculous sum of money to boot. I’d feel like an eejit wearing Ferrari clothes anyway but I did see a really nice leather jacket and although it had the Ferrari prancing stallion on it, I was willing to make an exception. I had a feel of it and was about to try it on and looked at the price, €680.00! Eh, no gratsie, Scusi, Ciao, Arrivaderci… I was outta there quicker than Magnum Pi. There were Japanese lads buying stuff like it was the Brown Thomas closing down sale, Ol’ Enzo Ferrari must be rubbing his oily paws with glee. I had a walk around the factory perimeter and like Mercedes it was 9ft high fences and security everywhere so my plans to sell their new designs to the Chinese were foiled. There was a company selling a 20 minute test drive for €100 in a F430 Ferrari and I was tempted, they were flat out busy and there were Ferraris roaring up and down the street. The cheapest thing with Ferrari printed on it was my ticket to the museum. Plain T-shirts with Ferrari on them were €39 each!
Bizarrely 2 different Italians stopped me and asked for directions (at least that’s what I think they were asking) the tan must be coming along nicely. I have seen Rossa coffee, Rossa Beer and TestaRossa Ferraris today…. Must be my Italian heritage. That evening I started making my way to Pisa, over the mountains to the West coast of Italy, and stopped 50km short of it for the night.

12 Sept I drove into Pisa this morning and as I drove around looking for parking I drove into this place and as it happens 3 other cars followed me. I pulled up to the barrier, pressed the ‘Gimme a ticket button’ and it wouldn’t. I don’t know why but I had to get out of the van and get all the cars behind me to back up out onto a busy road so the Irish tourist can get his van out, how embarrassing but they were all fine about it. I finally got parked and this African lad stood outside my door with all kinds of crap for sale. I slid over to the other side to change footwear and he walked around the other side too and continued to wait for me there. ‘On business’ I said, ‘not buying today’. He went off and so did I into the Piazza when the leaning tower is located. There are a few other buildings in the Piazza but the leaning tower was most of interest. The photos never do justice to its lean and looks like it ready to fall. They did work on it a few years ago to reverse the lean and brought it back from a 5.5m to a 4.1m tilt (measured from the top from where it is, compared to where it should be) Pisa takes an hour or two and by then I was off on my 1 hour journey to Florence. Florence was a lovely renaissancie place too where the statue of David, Neptune etc are in full view and there is a definite homosexual angle there with little Eunuchs putting things in there mouths and naked men rubbing their fingers through another lads hair, I don’t know buts its all very suspect. I wanted to get in to the Uzzi Art gallery but the queues were crazy. I’m sure I’ll see it in a book or something. After a few hours in Florence, another 90 mins down the road got me to Siena. Siena is a really interesting spot too and walked the narrow Gothic streets there for an hour or two. It was getting late so I pointed Mary in the direction of Rome and drove within a 100kms of it. The plan is to drive into the heart of Rome for the craic to see what the crazy driving the city is famed for (albeit on a Sunday morning)

13 Sept With only slight navigational bother I drove into the middle of a rainy wet Rome without any trouble. I parked within a stones throw of The Vatican and I headed there first. I roamed around St. Peters sq looking for a quicker way into the Basilica but no, I had to line up in the rain with the mile long queue. An hour later I was in there with my head leaned back looking at the ceilings and the height of the roof. It’s a beautifully ornate church with so many statues and paintings and in excellent condition; it’s a pity the rest of Rome isn’t in as good condition. I went into see the tombs of the popes and there was a real jam at the tomb of JP2. People were crying and kneeling, I had to get out of there quick. Most disappointingly the Sistine chapel was closed but no doubt I’ll find myself in Rome again sometime. Off then to the Pantheon, a dome thing with stuff in it and then to the Trevi fountain which was a nice bit of sculpturing and then to the Coliseum which was interesting but smaller than I had expected. I wandered around for a bit and after 6 hours traipsing around Rome I had seen what I wanted to see and hit the road south towards Naples.

14 Sept Arrived into Naples around lunch time and what an awakening. The place is like Vietnam for traffic and lunatics. I have never seen chaos like it in the modern world and would go as far as saying Naples is more 3rd world than first in many respects. It was not a nice place and by far the most displeasing of Italy so far. Mary has parking areas programmed in but they were jammed or impossible to get in to. No parking was to be had and after 30 mins driving around my tolerance had gone way past the safety level and I said enough was enough and got out of there. My visit to Naples did not even involve me setting foot in place. Anyway this cuckoo flew over the Naplese nest and continued down to Pompeii. That was an amazing place and reminded me so much of Matchu Pitchu in Peru. I didn’t really know what to expect of the place but I didn’t know it was a full on town with Coliseum, church, a brothel, grand homes and all the usual ancient town facilities including drainage, fresh water and sewage systems. It was so strange just to walk around countless streets and houses with nobody there. Pompeii was covered in Lava by the eruption of Mt Vesuvius and many people perished. The place was engulfed in lava and ash and in its rediscovery and archaeological rebirth the streets and houses are all accessible and its amazing how much survived. The most amazing thing for me were the bodies that were covered in Lava and are now preserved in a hard lava shell, still in the pose that they were in when they were killed. After that I set course for the motorway for the night and will head for Sorrento tomorrow.

15 Sept Arrived in Sorrento this morning and it’s a big improvement on the surrounding residential areas. It’s very built up and is built on a mountainside with high cliffs making the journey from town to the shore one of serious climbing or descending. It’s a fantastic setting and I spent the day wandering around having a look at the place. I intended on going to see the island of Capri but felt it would be best make a day of it so I checked into a campsite and will go tomorrow morning.

16 Sept Had the alarm set for 6.30am this morning to allow plenty of time to get the 7.45am ferry to Capri. I woke to the sound of both the alarm and the rain. I said feck it and slept on intending to get the next one at 9.25am and in the hope that the rain will have let up, but it was still pouring. It started lightening so I trekked down to the port but the rain got worse. I stood there watching all the people with their umbrellas queuing up and waiting. I couldn’t face going to a paradise island in the rain, done enough of that in Brazil. I decided to pack it in and use the day for the long drive south along the Amalfi coast and on towards Sicily. I checked out of the campsite and hit the road. It was pelting and thunder and lightening were a common occurrence. The scenery was beautiful but the traffic was dreadful. The roads along the Amalfi coast (A UNESCO world heritage site) are so narrow and buses slow things down especially when they meet each other going in opposite directions. The Amalfi coast is a 50km stretch of cliffs with windy roads cut into the cliff face on the west coast of Southern Italy. It’s so special as there are houses, hotels, restaurants and fishing villages dotted along the coastline and all cut into the cliffs edge. Tourists on day trips from Sorrento go mad for it. One of the downsides is the car reliant Italians have all the parking taken up and it’s very difficult to find a spot to stop and take in the view. They are all in such a hurry; I wonder what these rural Italians are rushing to or from. I began to notice in the areas where the driving is at its worst also having the worst cars. Every car is a banger or is covered in dents and scrapes. Bad and all as we think we are in Ireland for speed and lunatics, its playschool compared to Southern Italy. I continued on for the whole day working my way south and stopped 100km short of the toe of Italy where I’ll get the ferry to Sciliy.

Czech Republic to Austria (twice)

2009-09-11T11:58:00.001+01:00

27 Aug Up and out at 7am and en route to Prague. It was a long drive of 5 hours / 350km approx but the whole way was motorway which was very welcome. The traffic in the CR is fast but not as bad as Poland. I SET Mary bound for Prague and to a hostel called ‘Sophie’s place’. When I got there they wanted €41 for a dorm bed incl parking for 1 night. It was early enough so I drove off and found a free car park, and set off on foot to see Prague that day and head off that night. I trekked around Prague from Midday to 7pm incl doing a walking tour and a wander around myself. I think I saw most of the highlights and it is a superb city steeped in amazing architecture and history. I was fascinated by the place and will definitely go and see it again. It started getting dark after 7pm so I decided to head back to the van and hit the road. I set Mary to take me to Cesky Krumlov an historic Czech town near the Austrian border and the setting for the recent movie, Hostel. I didn’t intend to get there today so on the way I stopped off at a 24 hour Tesco supermarket (that was a surprise) and picked up some necessary supplies. It was a grand spot so I stopped there for the night.

28 Aug Up and out at 8am, into Tesco for the breakfast and off I went. I got to Cesky about 10am and it’s a lovely quaint little place set on a bend in the river. It’s got little narrow cobbled streets amongst its old buildings. I had a walk around the town and its castle and at 11.15 I was in the van on my way to Austria. I went via a little town called Cesky Budejovice where the original Budweiser beers comes from and only interrupted by a snooze was in Austria an hour later. As I entered Austria, the difference in wealth was striking with better houses, smoother roads, better kept generally. It was great to be back in the Euro zone as I have had 8 currency changes since leaving Germany to go into Austria. I arrived in Linz, Austria second city, to meet Johannes a lad me and frog met in Antarctica. He brought me for a tour around the city and in this particular place we walked past a wax dummy robot. I could have sworn it was real and I was asked to sit down and talk to him. We chatted away in English and the robot told me he was from Japan. He had moving eyes, hands, facial twitches etc. I could go on but I won’t. We went to city hall after that and Johannes showed me the floor which was an aerial view of the city. The authorities had the whole city photographed and then had it made in a lino and used it as floor covering. It was amazing. It was a lovely evening, so we sat out in the sum and drank a couple of beers before heading up to a Church on the hilltop to look out over the city at night. There was lightening in the distance and we watched the lightening forks but without the rain which we both agreed was great additional entertainment.

29 Aug It was raining today so we decided to go to the cinema to see the new Quentin Tarrantino movie, Glorious Bastards. It was about a team of US mercenaries in WW2 France and Germany there just to kill Nazis. It was a good film but I lost a lot in the translation. That evening we went to a nearby Spa and enjoyed a swim in an indoor and outdoor pool, steam room, Jacuzzi and sauna. It was a lovely relaxing evening and even enjoyed a beer in our nice surroundings.

30 Aug Up and out at 10am and me and Johannes went for a traditional breakfast in a nearby café. It was a lovely sunny morning and we were joined by a friend of his. After that we headed for the hills to his parents place in the mountains. At his village the weekend fair was in full swing and we had Bratwurst while watching the entertainment. After that we headed for a walk up to this high point that looks over a like. The lake forms part of the border between Austria and the Czech Rep and Johannes showed me where the Iron curtain once was. It was a lovely spot. After that I set course for Dachu, a town outside Munich to call to Galway friend of mine, Paul Hanlon, who has an Irish pub there called the ‘Muddy Boot’. My visit was to be a surprise and as I was driving around looking for the place the only man on the street to ask where it was, was Paul. I drove up to him (he was on the phone) and shouted ‘Oi, where’s the Muddy Boot!’ He was talking to his brother on the phone and he couldn’t believe it, he was shouting at his brother ‘You’ll never believe whose just pulled up in a van!’. It was a great laugh. I had a beer and a bite to eat in the pub before he locked up and we headed to his apartment in Munich to stay the night and meet his better half Nadia.

31 Aug That morning I met Paul’s daughter Cara. She is a lovely girl around 3 and spoke German. Nadia speaks to her in German, Paul speaks to her in English and she always replies to Paul in German although she has been spoken to and understands in English. So she understood me but I hadn’t a clue what she was saying.
We all went for a traditional German breakfast this morning of boiled white sausage with mustard. It came in a big bowl of boiling water and we scooped out what we wanted. As I was about to take my first bite I was stopped and told I had to peel the skin off first. As I was doing so, Paul told me the story of the Korean lads he brought here and after a phone call Paul had to go back to the flat for a minute as breakfast had arrived. By the time he got back, the Korean lads had eaten the sausage, the skin and all the hot water. They said they liked the soup but had cramps all day after the sausage. But on this occasion they were very good and no soup.
After breakfast, we went into Munich on the underground. It was a lovely city but very different to what I expected. We walked around the sights and the pedestrianised streets and went into the famous Hofbrauhaus which is a huge refectory style pub with big long bog standard timber benches and tables. We had a typical German dinner of Pork knuckle and potatoes washed down with a litre glass of Bavarian beer. After that we walked around the area that the annual Munich beer festival ‘Oktoberfest’ is being held and it was huge. It must be 10 times the size of the Galway races hospitality area. They weren’t building tents either; they were full on barn sized timber structures. After too much of the amber elixir we headed home to Paul’s for the night.

01 Sep This morning we went to the Olympic park, the setting for the 1972 Olympic Games. It was a fabulous complex with lovely modern buildings, walkways, man made lakes and hills. (The hills were made by the WW2 rubble created in the city and were brought by hand by the residents of Munich as a mark of respect for their dead.) We hung around there for a while and Paul went home early while I stayed on to go across the road to the BMW world at BMW HQ. BMW world is a fabulous set up with all kinds of exhibits including all the new cars, old cars, futuristic cars, racing cars, motorbikes, cars used in movies including the 2 BMWs that Pierce Brosnan used in 2 of his James Bond movies. We got an Indian take away that night, not something I’ve eaten since I was at home. Lovely.

02 Sep After a coffee and croissant breakfast I left Paul, Nadia and Cara and off I went to Stuttgart. A few hours later I arrived and had Mary set for the Mercedes museum. I ended up at one end of Mercedesstrasse (Mercedes street) and needed to get to the other end to the museum, but apparently only staff and deliveries can go that way, everybody else have to detour. To find that out was only half the story. As I had arrived in the van the non English speaking security guard wanted to see my delivery documents and couldn’t understand why this van driver had no documents. I said ‘Museum’ he said ‘what for Museum?’, then I said ‘Tourist’ and opened the van for him to see. Anyway, after the hullabaloo he gave me sign language directions and off I went. Parking a couple of minutes walk from the museum, I walked along the Mercedes plant perimeter and it was like a secret government agency as I couldn’t see in with all the carefully placed landscaping and couldn’t climb in if I wanted to for all the high metal railings. Apparently these companies have huge problems with rival companies spying on them. As I walked past the staff exit they were coming through huge turnstiles with screening and security guards etc. Outside the museum is the other end of Mercedestrasse and has a big roundabout. I thought I was in a Mercedes ad with all sorts of Mercs from every entrance pouring in and out. It was comical to watch and suddenly they became boring to look at. At home I think a lot of people would subconsciously look twice at somebody driving a Mercedes but when it’s all Merc, that changes.
Eventually, I got into the museum and saw the world’s first car. It was 115 years old! Mercedes has a huge motoring history and even had the Pope mobile on display. I spent over 3 hours there but enjoyed the BMW museum a bit more. It was a close call though.
I continued down the autobahn to a town called Baden Baden on the edge of the Black Forest (Schwartzfeld) before pulling into a service station for the night for a meal and a DVD.

03 Sep Up and out around 9am and into Baden Baden. Ironically my father was telling me yesterday how bad the weather was in Ireland and I telling him that the weather was great in Germany only for the heavens to open up today. Baden Baden was a nice town but didn’t offer much other than being the gateway to the Schwartzfeld. The first town I stopped in was called Schiltach, it is a stereo typical German village with cobbled streets and that Swiss/Tudor style look houses but is especially popular as 2 rivers meet there. After that it was onto Triberg, called so as 3 mountains meet there and it’s situated in the valley between them. It’s a famous Cuckoo clock location and shops there had thousands of clocks. The 2 world’s biggest cuckoo clocks are located there, each claiming to be the biggest. The clocks are the size of a house and the cuckoo the size of a swan. After that onto a lakeside town called Titisee, all towns pleasant but nowt too exciting. On then toward Lake Constance on the Swiss/German border stopping 50km shy of it for the night. The place I pulled into was disappointing as it had crap food, no showers or green areas and I had to settle for a giant hotdog with a bread roll with a blob of mustard and ketchup. I ate that and topped up with biscuits and came to the conclusion that I could find a better spot to stop for the night. As I was driving out, around the corner the complex extended to a great spot with buffet restaurant etc. I was full though and full of junk. Feck. I stopped there though for the night.

04 Sept Up and out at 9.30am and had my nights accommodation, shower, breakfast and internet for €6, bargain. I headed off into Constance and it’s a lovely city and the lake being exceptionally so. It wasn’t a particularly good day so after a couple of hours I pushed on to Zurich. A short time later I reached the Swiss border and for the first time I was stopped for a passport check. He went off with the passport and came back a couple of minutes later and told me to pull the van over as they were going to check it. I did that and he told me to wait by the van for his return. He came back with this gun toting lad that had a puss on him like some character I had seen in Shawshank Redemption. He had me open the doors and was surprised to see a camper in the back rather than goods for commercial purposes. He hopped in and started looking at a couple of things and after two closets he abandoned the search and sent me on my way. I arrived in Zurich an hour later and although it was a fine city, I expected it to be nicer. I walked around for a couple of hours (it was cold and wet) and hopped in the van and headed to Lichtenstein. Lichtenstein is the 6th smallest country in the world measuring 12km X 35km and Vaduz is the capital. It’s more like a town the size of Loughrea but very well presented. I walked around for a bit before heading back into Austria towards Innsbruck. I crossed over the Austrian border, stopped by the very pleasant border control momentarily and pulled in a few miles up the road for the night.

05 Sept Up and out early at 8am en route to Innsbruck, Austria. It’s a nice small city nestled amongst the Alps, a place I had flown in to a few times skiing but never getting the chance to look around. On then to a small town called Berchesgaden, just inside the German border. It was the location of Hitler’s Bunker and nearby summer residence, ‘The Eagles nest’ or ‘Kehlsteinhaus’. The bunker was a barren old concrete thing but was very high tech and had dozens of rooms. It had clean air systems for gas attack, fresh water and huge reserves of food, wine, tobacco and chocolate. In its hey day was very luxurious and akin to a luxury hotel foyer, they say. It was looted after the war and huge local pressure convinced the occupying yanks not to blow it up. They also wanted to blow up the Eagles nest, Hitler’s summer home nearby. It is accessed by a 6.4km road uphill onto the mountain top (1650 metres above sea level), just below the summer snow line. It’s so high up your can see Salzburg from it. It was an amazing feat of engineering to build it and was a gift to Hitler from the Nazi party for his 50th Birthday in 1938. He entertained local and foreign dignitaries there and I’m sure they were very impressed by it and how the hell they built it so high up. All part of the ‘superior ability of the Germans’ image they wanted to convey to the world.
Off then to Linz to stay a night with Johannes. Fair play to him, he got more than he bargained for with me but still brought me out that night to see a festival and fireworks display that was going on. He also downloaded the full series of ‘Only fools and horses’ for me which was 5 DVDs. That will keep me entertained until I get home for sure.

Helsinki to Riga, Vilnius, Warsaw and the rest of Poland.

2009-08-30T00:26:00.001+01:00

Helsinki to Riga, Vilnius, Warsaw and the rest of Poland.

19th Aug Laura had an early start today so, so did I. Up and out at 7.15am and after saying my good-byes made the 15 minute drive to the ferry terminal. I was 3 hours early for check in so I climbed in the back and slept for a couple of them. At 2pm I arrived in Tallinn and headed straight for the road south to Latvia. Laura had told me that the Latvian roads were bad and they certainly were not as good as Finland, but judging by all the ‘sponsored by the EU’ signs along all the newly paved roads, I was quite sure the roads have improved of late. Estonia seems like a nice country, for the bit that I saw, with lots of little villages and sprawling farms and forests. A few hours later I crossed over the Latvian border and past the old passport control checkpoints, rotting away and roads full of weeds. I’m sure their passing into history are mourned by no one. The EU has been good to these countries with a real lift very evident. Latvia is a less well off country than Estonia with obvious but subtle differences, however Latvia is lovely too. The road from the border to Riga is along the Baltic Sea and although much of the sea views are blocked by trees, many of the road side stops have access onto the beach. I stopped at a couple and there were miles of deserted beach. I’m sure if Dad were with me, he’d be in like Flynn for a swim. I finally arrived in Riga and called to the hostel. I decided to stay there and went off to park the van. Big Eastern European cities have a reputation for break-ins into foreign registered cars so I found a secure underground car-park. After checking into the hostel I went into the restaurant next door and had a lovely dinner for €5. That evening I went for a walk around the town and on first impressions seems like a larger version of Tallinn.

20th Aug Slept in today until about 10am and was on the streets by midday for a look around. I visited the ‘Museum of Occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union’ today, which was also visited by Mary McAleese, Queen Elizabeth, Laura Bush and others. It was a good display and those guys had a hard time under Stalin and later regimes up until 1991. I visited a war museum, walked through the park, the streets, by the canal and the river. It’s a nice city but I’m ready to move on tomorrow.

21st Aug Left Riga today bound for a small town called Sigulda. It’s an hour west of Riga and is best known for its castles and outdoor adventure pursuits. It has a bobsleigh track and a nice river which the guys that rent the kayaks will drive you upriver and release you to paddle down river and back to base. Unfortunately for me they do not allow lone paddlers and as there was nobody else going at the time, so that was knocked on the head. I went to the bobsleigh track, parked at the bottom and walked up to the start. The track was closed for the day for maintenance so didn’t get to do that either. At that point I decided to push south and make way for Lithuania via a village called Pilsrundale. At this tiny place there is a massive palace designed by the great Baroque era architect Bartolomeo Rastelli who also designed the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, yawn. I had a nice dinner there for €6 and walked around the outside before 6 pm closing time and had to leave. Close to the Lithuanian border, I decided to continue on across the border and similar to Latvia a big checkpoint setup and nobody there. As I intended to stay the night at Sigulda and didn’t expect to be as far on as I was. My hostel in Vilnius (capital of Lithuania) was booked for tomorrow night and now I was with a 150 km of it. I stopped in a couple for places but didn’t like them too much but finally stopped at this rest area, watched a video and slept for 10 hours.

22nd Aug Up and out about 10am and hit the road for Vilnius. I arrived in the hostel early that afternoon and had a look around town. I must have broken a world record for the amount of churches I’ve been in and out of and this place added to that. It’s a lovely old world place but despite the massive restoration projects underway there is still lots of fabulous buildings crumbling away due to years of Soviet era neglect.

23rd Aug Up around 10am this morning and decided to leave Vilnius but not before doing the much hyped ‘Free walking tour’ of the more unusual sights at midday. Although it’s free, for tax or regulation reasons or whatever, one is expected to tip at the end if they thought it was any good. Around 10.30am I went down the town to get some breakfast and decided on this particular place. It was nice and sunny Sunday morning and I took a seat outside and waited. A while later a waiter appeared, plopped the menu on the table with a grunt and was gone. I flicked through it, decided on some gourmet pancake thing and awaited his return. 10 minutes later he came back and I told him what I wanted. He looked at me and said ‘Breakfass finiss in the 11am’. I could have thrown the menu at him; I was sitting at his restaurant like a green horn since 10.50am. He leaned over the menu, impatiently flicked the pages to the Lunch menu and prodded his finger down on the page and stood up straight again. I vigorously flicked the pages to the end, closed the menu with a prod of my finger and handed it back to him with the delicacy of a Lithuanian Lada. I stood up slowly and with 2 Americans grinning widely at the next table, I strolled off with my pride full and my belly empty. After a quick visit to a convenience store and a sandwich and cappuccino later I was waiting at the steps of the town hall for this tour. There were 10 others waiting and at 12.15pm it was obvious that whatever gobsheen that was doing the tour had no intention of showing up (despite the poster advertising it as being on 7 days per week). Deciding at that point that it was time to point the van in the direction of Poland, off I went. It wasn’t too long before I was close to the Polish border and I pulled into a petrol station and exchanged all my Lithuanian coins and notes for that exact amount of diesel. It was a pre-pay station so I had to go to the counter and pay for the amount I wanted and back out to the pumps and it would dispense that amount in fuel. When I plopped all my coins on the counter it was like a scene from a bar in a Wild West movie with copper coins spinning and rolling this way and that. I parked on the opposite side of their forecourt, had a quick bite to eat and went for a snooze in the back. Two hours later, I was on the road again crossed through an obstacle course of a border into Poland. It was early Sunday evening and the traffic was mental. The Poles are lunatic drivers passing out cars in a solid line of traffic, squeezing in where there isn’t space, risking their lives and others to save about 20 seconds, maybe it was because it was a Sunday evening. Hunger was creeping in and dead quiet rural eateries are usually not a good idea so passing through this town I spotted a McDonalds and succumbed to its temptation. It was the busiest McDs Id ever been in with people squabbling over table and Q’s out the door. I pronounced the Polish ‘Big Mc Meal’ in my best accent and yer wan hadn’t a clue what I was saying. Bored Que’rs were watching and listening in and I felt the eyes of the world were on me. Abandoning my efforts to use the language, I pointed at pictures etc and got what I wanted. Driving along through the countryside anyway, Mary my Sat Nav was telling me that I would be arriving in downtown Warsaw in less than 20 mins. All there was around me were single carriageway roads, farms and redneck kids. It dawned on me that the clock was an hour earlier in Poland and in fact Warsaw was 1hr 20 mins away. That suited me fine as I didn’t want to arrive in Warsaw until the following morning. I pulled into a service station / truck-stop for the night and parked in amongst the trucks. I started writing up my blog for the night when I noticed a dog sitting in front of the line of trucks. As time went by I observed him sniffing and growling at anybody that walked near the Lorries but not the truck drivers themselves. He seemed to know the difference. I reckoned he was a stray and etched himself purpose and a living doing what he was doing as the drivers were giving him scraps and bit and pieces. Was lovely to see.

24th Aug Up and out at 10am and off to Warsaw rejoining the mental traffic made worse by road works, probably one of the short term downsides of EU infrastructural money. An hour or so later I arrived in the old town of Warsaw, and it’s absolutely beautiful. There are so many fantastic buildings I just wandered with my mouth open. All is not how it seems however as Warsaw was flattened during WW2 and all their old period buildings have been 90% rebuilt to their original design since the mid 80’s. It took me totally by surprise and would definitely recommend it as a weekend destination. Armed with all the tourist info I saw a lot of the city and by the evening I felt I’d seen a lot of what was on offer. That night I went down the town again to soak up the night atmosphere and have dinner. As I walked around I was listening to all the busker musicians playing the best classical music I heard anywhere. The famous composer Chopin was from Warsaw and perhaps he has inspired future generations of musicians. There were lots of beggars too and one person I gave money to was an elderly chap Id say in his mid eighties. He was dressed in his best suit, a grubby former soviet design with a really skinny tie and leaning heavily on his stick. He shuffled his weight from one leg to another and was standing there for ages. He was comforted the classical music being played nearby and I watched him with his little plastic container subtly at his front and not being shoved in anybody’s face. He wasn’t collecting much, in fact there was nothing in his container and had got nothing in the 15 mins I was watching him. His toothless mouth hung open as he watched the 3 busking violinists through his thick glasses and I felt so sorry for him. What was his life like? At that age having to beg and obviously not comfortable with it or used to it. He was trying his best to look respectable but at the same time if you didn’t look closely you would think he was just standing there. He should be with family, watching TV or in bed. I had a lump in my throat as I observed him. I tried to work out what he would make in an evening and maybe through a donation I could encourage him to go home early. I know there are worse cases in the world but it must be frightening at that age not knowing what will happen to you the day you can’t get out of bed to beg.

25th Aug I slept in the van outside the hostel last night. The hostel was really busy and they used my reservation which was fine as sleeping in big smelly dorms are less attractive than having the camper to myself. I woke at 6.30am and was on the road for 7. The morning traffic was getting busy leaving Warsaw but didn’t really let up all day. The Polish roads, drivers and volumes on the roads are ridiculous, I’ll be glad to put them behind me. I drove from 7am until 2pm today and arrived in Krakow in Southern Poland. When I arrived, Mary my Sat. Nav. some how directed me down the main tourist Pedestrian street and was so embarrassing all the tourists looking at me and having to get out of the way. I swung round the first left I came across before the local constabulary caught up with me. It’s a fabulous little city with lots of old buildings, castles and pedestrianised streets. One of the churches I went into had 2 doors, one signed for worshipers and one signed for tourists. There was a charge for tourists and free for worshippers so Naturally I was a worshipper. I was walking in a few steps behind these American girls and the security guard stopped them and told them to go to the tourist entrance. He then took a look at me and I started blessing myself as I walked by him whilst spouting in a subtle but loud enough; In Nomine, Patris et filee et Spiritous Santi. He let me pass.
Krakow was the setting for the film Schindlers list and I walked around the Jewish quarter where the Nazis rounded up the local Jewish population and exterminated them in the nearby concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau. The place is still be repopulated and still has the decay from WW2. I met an Australian lad in the hostel that Id met in Vilnius and Warsaw and he’s joining me on a trip to Auschwitz tomorrow. We went out for dinner and drinks this evening and enjoyed his cop stories (Aussie Police officer in Sydney).

26 Aug Up and out of Krakow with Casey, the Australian lad, and on our way to the concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau.. We got there about 90 mins later and went to Birkenau first. It was a horrifying place built entirely for the storage and extermination of Jews, Gypsies, Russian POWs, resistance fighters, gays and the mentally ill. The complex was huge and housed over 100,000 people at its peak in barn size timber bungalows. All the houses were built with a concrete base and chimney and that’s all that remains of the bungalows now except for a few that have been rebuilt for exhibition purposes. We saw the gas chambers, miles of barbed wire and the conveyer belt system of the mass murder of over 1.5m Jews. We stayed a couple of hours and went off to Auschwitz, 3km away. Auschwitz had a visitors centre and after lunch there we took a look around. Auschwitz was a concentration camp for workers in the nearby factories. They were overworked and underfed and once they started to fade they were sent to Birkenau for extermination. Funnily enough Auschwitz as a camp was a pleasant enough place on the surface. It was an ex Polish Military base and had nice grounds, mature trees and pretty red brick buildings. However, underneath the horror of the place beggared belief. Live human medical experiments, hangings, executions, lethal injections, brutal interrogations not to mention the mountains of human hair, spectacles, adult and childrens shoes, suitcases, hairbrushes etc. Inmates died from disease, hunger, exhaustion, lunacy and terror. It was great to see but at the same time shocking to know that it was perpetrated by a fellow EU member only 65 years ago.
Later in the afternoon, I bid farewell to Casey (he went back to Krakow on the bus) and I set Mary bond for Prague. I crossed the Czech border about an hour later. I though the border was further along than it was and had not spent all my Polish Zlotys (Slutties as I called them to many a raised brow) so after crossing the border swung around and back into Poland to the nearest service station and did my diesel routine. Back to the Czech republic and as it was getting dark found a service station with a truck stop and pulled in for the night. I filled up with Diesel and bought a Bohemia Beer ( apparently the best beer region in the world) paid it all with visa as I had no Czech money and drank that before bed.

(Part 2) Copenhagen to Tallinn, Estonia via Sweden, Norway & Finland.

2009-08-18T15:52:00.002+01:00

Aug 12th Up and out this morning at 7.30am and on the road at 9. It is getting considerably cooler but makes sleeping at night much more comfortable. The clock moved forward an hour today when we crossed the Finnish border so it was actually 10am when we got away today. We made our way 70km north to a town called Rovanemei. This is the gateway to the Artic circle and the Santa Claus village, 8km from the town. After a brief visit to the tourist office, we were on our way to see Santa. The Santa Claus village is very commercialised and comprises of a grotto building with restaurant and gift shop, a post office selling all kinds of Christmassy items and Santa’s office where it is free in but one needs to pay €19 to have your photo taken with him (fake beard incl. in the price). All the other things are shops and not a reindeer in sight. One good gimmick though was a letter from Santa sent on the first week of Christmas to a child of your choice whereby Santa mentions talking to the recipient. This cost €6 for each letter and we did it for the 4 grandchildren. Of most interest to us however was the Artic circle. Above the Artic circle at least one day in the year will be in total darkness for 24 hours and one day in the year will have 24 hours of continuous daylight. After that we decided to meander our way 800km south to Helsinki. That evening along the way we stopped at a place with a few trucks and a closed café. We made our dinner and found a sink around the back which we started using. We were cleaning pots etc and making a little racket when this Finnish guy appeared and started giving out to us for being on his private property. We apologised and said we didn’t realise but he kept huffing and puffing. We wrapped up operations fairly lively and moved on to another part of the car park.

Aug 13th Up and out at 7.30am and on the road at 8.15 after a quick shave and brushing of teeth. We decided not to hang around as we didn’t feel too welcome by our host. We drove an hour down the road and pulled into a rest area for breakfast. At this point Dad was starting to feel tired (and perhaps a bit homesick) with life on the road and we decided to take a direct route to Helsinki and not bother with the smaller towns and cities. He said he had seen enough and may change his flight and go home a bit early. We drove to Helsinki and pulled into the main international airport en-route. The cost to change was in excess of €150 so he decided to stay on. We went on to hotels.com and found a last minute bargain at the Crowne Plaza in central Helsinki at €94 per night discounted from €264. At €47 per night each, we checked in for 5 nights. It was a fabulous hotel and we even got two €21 buffet breakfasts each thrown in as the curtain were broken in our room and nobody was available to fix them until the following day. That evening we went into downtown Helsinki for dinner and a walk around. It appears to be a lovely city and will look forward to seeing more of it tomorrow.

Aug 14th We went down for our complimentary breakfast at 9am this morning and boy what a spread. We could have anything imaginable and dad even had porridge with honey and milk. 2 loaded bellies later we went downtown again and got on the ‘Hop on Hop off’ bus for an introductory sight seeing tour of the city. The tour wasn’t great but we got off at the 1952 Olympic stadium and had a look around. It’s still a major sporting and concert venue today and was a superb design for its time. We climbed to the top of its observation tower for a view over the city. We saw a few other sights and after the tour we went to the ferry terminal to book our tickets for a day trip to Tallinn in Estonia. That evening we went into town for a Chinese, where Dad saw a sauce on the table and helped himself to a spoonful. It was chilli and his tongue was out half a mile. He was oohing and ahhing, whoo-ing and jingoes-ing and feck me-ing for over 20 minutes. It was hilarious.

Aug 15th Up and out at 8am for another breakfast and out the door onto the 4T tram to take us to the ferry. We were on the ferry and on the way to Tallinn an hour later. The views of Helsinki harbour were lovely and are littered with islands in the bay. The journey passed quick enough and 2 hours 30 mins later we were there. We walked into town and quickly realised that it’s a magical little place with street vendors all dressed up in their traditional dress selling their wares. Tallinn is a walled city and all the streets within the wall are cobbled with nice little shops, bars, cafes and restaurants everywhere. We went into churches, museums a restaurant and even into the Irish embassy for a look but did not go in. After an afternoon looking around we made our way back to the ferry. We had dinner onboard and were back in Helsinki before we knew it. On the tram back to the city centre from the ferry terminal it was jam packed with ferry passengers. Dad hobbled on with his stick and this young girl of about 7, accompanied by her grandmother, got up and offered dad her seat. Initially he refused but she offered again and he took it. He smiled at her and thanked her. Delighted with her gesture dad reached into his bag and pulled out a big roll of smarties with Pooh bear on top and gave it to her. Initially intended for Beabhin, the girl was delighted with her unexpected windfall. She or her grandmother spoke no English so we think they were Estonians. The grandmother showed no emotion, no smile, no thanks, no nothing. Perhaps she was wary but I feel it was more of a cultural thing of many years under Russian occupation and suspicion. Anyway, the kid was happy and gave Dad a big wave from the platform when she got off. I think it made Dads day.

Aug 16th No posh breakfast for us today so we helped ourselves to the complimentary coffee and biscuits in the lobby before heading off to Mass. Dad needed his religious top up so with the help of Google and Google Earth I found a Catholic church along the tram line. We were just on time for 11am mass totally in Finnish. At 12.05pm dad gave me the nod to leave as Mass was still going and he had enough religious credit notched up at that stage. Back on the tram into town and had a lovely brunch in the food court in the Forum shopping centre. As we arrived in the food court, Dad went over to this Turkish lad at a kebab stand and asked in his PJ Flaherty accent ‘Have you Porridge?’ Of course the guy spoke good English hadn’t an idea what he said. I explained he meant oatmeal and the guy grinned. We finally settled on having food that was actually sold there. After that we were on the tram again to the bike rental shop and €15 later we were on pedal power for the rest of the day. I must admit I was reluctant to cycle around all day but once I was going I was delighted. We cycled all around the harbour area, through the city and the parks and more or less all on dedicated cycle lanes. It such a shame this is not more widely available in Ireland. One stop was the Sibelius monument, which was impressive. Sibelius was a famous Finnish composer, whom id never heard of but once I heard the music I recognised it straight away. After 4 hours on the bikes we gave them back and went back to the hotel for a swim in the leisure centre. The night was rounded off by a visit to our Chinese restaurant for a feed of barbequed pork and 2 pints of beers. We watched Uncle Buck’ on the laptop before nodding off for the night.

Aug 17th Dad made his porridge this morning using the kettle in the room and oatmeal he soaked overnight. He was delighted with the results and had his little bottle of Soya milk stashed away in the mini bar fridge. After complimentary coffee and biscuits in the lobby we went downtown to do the laundry. I had two sleeping bags, pillow cases, towel, blanket and all my own laundry to do (a fortnights worth). The launderette used the huge washing machine and a smaller one to do it all. It all came to €28 which I thought was a bit pricey, but was happy to have it done. During the day we went on a tour of the parliament and dad was a great student asking all the questions and even took the tour guide aside afterwards to correct him on his pronunciation. Down to the laundry to collect our stuff, and off to an Indian restaurant for our lunch. In the afternoon we visited an amazing church (Temppeliaukio church) which was built in the late 1960’s. It was built into an old quarry and looks like a flying saucer from the outside than a house of god. Check it out on Google images using:http://images.google.ie/images?hl=en&q=temppeliaukio+church&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=
We then went down to the park on dads request to listen to some music and sat in to listen to a Finnish/Swedish folk band. Dad fell asleep and when he woke up suggested that we go as it was ‘Tripe-ailte’. We meandered our way home through the park before getting to our hotel where we relaxed for a while before going for our evening dip at the hotel leisure centre. Dinner was at our Chinese restaurant again which delighted our waiter and he was all chat, not much of which we understood.

Aug 18th We checked out this morning as it was time for Dad to go home and me to continue on my travels to Eastern Europe. We headed off to the airport about 10.30am in the van with all our bag and baggage on board. We spent a total of 6 days in Helsinki and did justice to such a lovely city. We saw most things worth seeing and had a laugh doing it. We had a great time combining a bit of wildness, adventure, sacrifice and a good dollop of luxury at the end. The holiday was a time of many firsts for me and Dad. We went on our first lads holiday, spent 2 weeks together without other family members, our first day long chats about this and that, and we drunk our first, second and third pints together on this trip too. The occasion will be more significant on retrospect than anything in particular that we did on the trip. No regrets having done the trip with my father, it was excellent. I think of many of my friends who fathers have died, who dads wouldn’t go even if they could and ones that just can’t. They would give their left arms for the chance. For that I am grateful.
After dropping off dad, I made my way back to the hotel to resume my free parking for another few hours. There were parking attendants putting tickets on the cars that were illegally parked. They didn’t put a ticket on mine the whole 6 days. Maybe it was because of the Irish reg or maybe it was the Crowne Plaza card I had in the windscreen, I don’t know and I didn’t ask. I booked my ticket for the ferry to Tallinn tomorrow morning and bought a bottle of wine for my host tonight. I will stay with a Finnish girl, Laura that I met in Laos. You may recall in a previous entry the girl who was sitting on a packed Laotian bus beside a bus driver that was looking at her more than the road. The seat was an uncomfortable one and I offered her my seat. She was most appreciative. So that’s where Im spending my last night in Finland.

(Part 1) Copenhagen to Tallinn, Estonia via Sweden, Norway & Finland.

2009-08-15T21:56:00.003+01:00

Photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40472893@N04/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31405705@N08/

(Part 1) Copenhagen to Tallinn, Estonia via Sweden, Norway & Finland.

04 Aug Up and out this morning and on the road for 9am. Dad wanted to see the hippy commune ‘Christiana’ which was on our way. We had a walk around and although there were a few people around I think most of them were in bed. We continued on and drove across the Oresund Bridge to Malmo in Sweden. When we arrived at the toll gate on the Swedish side, Dad started talking a mixture of English and French in an Italian accent to a Swede. As he chatted away to the teller the queue was getting longer behind us as Dad was in the throws of describing where we came from and where we were going. Of course dad didn’t mind a bit. We went into Malmo for a look around and it was nothing special except Dad got charged €2.50 to use the toilet in the train station. I told the lady taking the money that it was a rip off and a bad reflection on her city as it was 10 kroners (€1) to use the toilet if you had Swedish money or €2.50 if paying with euro. We spent an hour looking around and by then we were back on the road on our way to Gothenburg.

We pulled off the motorway into a roadside service station along the way and standing by the van eating our hotdogs a man in an English reg. Volvo pulled up alongside. He was Swedish and told us he thought there was a dead man in the van a few cars up and would we mind accompanying him to check it out. Dad went with him and they opened the van and there was nothing in it. This lad told us it had been there a week and nobody moved it. I asked him was he involved with the management and he said no, they are idiots and don’t care he added. At that point I thought he was a gobshite and he went back to the van and started searching through it. He came back to us again and started preaching about the evils of women and at that point we made our excuses and left.

We finally arrived in Gothenburg, looked around its main st and square. We went on to the docks and visited a huge sailing ship converted into a hotel and then to a ship museum where a warship and a submarine were the highlights. We climbed down into the submarine and had a look around. It was so cramped; it’s not a career I would have liked. We left Gothenburg about 6.30pm and headed in the direction of Stockholm. We stopped at a service station en-route for the night.

05 Aug Up and out at 8.30am, had showers in the service station, Dad made porridge for us both (which was a bit watery so Dad had mine too) and we were on the road to Stockholm by 10am (but not before Dad tried to fix the McDonalds lawnmower). Asides from a stop for coffee we were driving non stop to Stockholm. We got there about 1am and had trouble finding the campsite we had selected. We stopped and asked a lady if she spoke English and she grunted ’no’ and turned her back on us. We then asked a taxi driver and he told us to follow him. We drove around after him for about 10 mins until he finally apologised and said he couldn’t find it. Fair play to him for trying anyway and would not take any money for his trouble. We reckoned it was gone, had bowed out to progress and we set course for option 2.

Stockholm is a lovely old city with lots of narrow cobbled streets but driving around it and adding the modern additions of tram lines, bicycle lanes and all kinds of unfamiliar junctions we had traffic blowing at us for going when we should be stopping. Stopping when we should be going but anyway finally got to the second campsite and discovered they were full. Done with driving we parked in the car park beside it and headed into town, 10km/40 mins away by ferry-bus. It was a lovely day, about 28C and was a great day to see Stockholm. The beauty of the place beggars belief. We went into city hall when all the pomp and ceremony of the Nobel peace prize goes on each year and was like a scene from Venice. We arrived in town about 3pm so after a few hours looking around decided to return the following day and got the train back to the van. Parked outside the campsite we went in to the campsite restaurant and had dinner. That evening (still in the car-park) we put on the movie ‘Who’s Harry Crumb’ but the battery died mid way as we had been running the fridge all day keeping dads porridge milk cool.

06 Aug Up and out at 7am and after Dads swim and porridge we were on the train into town at 9.30. We first went back to the City hall to do the tour as we were particularly interested in seeing where the Nobel peace prize was granted. We were bored to tears on the tour only to find out toward the end that the prizes were handed out at a conference centre somewhere else in town. As Dad says; ‘we were done’. After that we went for a walk along the shore looking at the fabulous boats and buildings. Prices were astronomical along the shore so we popped into a 7-11 convenience store and bought coffees and sandwiches and sat on the shore amongst the expensive eateries eating them. After lunch we went to the ‘Vasa’ museum. The Vasa was a battleship built by the king of Sweden in 1650. It had so many guns and adorned with carvings etc it was so overweight and unbalanced that it sunk in the harbour 1 km from its launch site. It was raised about 30 years ago and took 7 years to restore. Its an ugly ship but fascinatingly big and a real symbol of Swedish arrogance in Scandinavia at the time. By this time we had seen at lot of Stockholm and got the train back to the van. We headed off after Dads swim and another meal at the campsite restaurant. Dad had a beer with his dinner which added to all our walking that day allowed him sleep most of the way. By 9.30 we stopped off at a roadside rest area and after the remainder of the video, went to sleep.

07 Aug Up at 7.45am and Dad for the first time plugged into the vans power supply to shave. He walked around in his pyjamas amongst the truckers with no bother. It probably would have bothered me at one time but I didn’t care. We made up breakfast and off we went. We drove on for a couple of hours and pulled into a shopping centre for groceries and diesel before crossing into notoriously expensive Norway. Norway is not as wealthy as Sweden and much more mountainous. Before long we were in Oslo, went to our campsite and it was a dump. The Turkish owner had about as much charm as the potholes in his campsite so we parked across the road in the car park which serviced the beach along the Oslo fjord and local bike/walking trails. We had a look around, Dad went for a swim and we then drove into Oslo for the afternoon. Oslo was a surprise. I expected a glamorous city with blondes walking around but what we saw was a scene one would expect from Istanbul. It was full of immigrants and in the central square drug dealing was openly being carried out. It was not a well planned city in the centre and things were all over the place. We took a tram to a park called the Vigelandsparken Sculpture Park which was filled with naked statues in all manners of embrace. After that we were back on the tram and on the way to see the opera house. That was an amazing building and the roof was sloped from top to toe so that you could walk up and admire the views of the harbour. We drove back to that same beach car park and camped there for the night.

08 Aug This morning we went down to the fjord for a swim and rinse under the tap afterwards. We both decided our time would be better spend elsewhere than Oslo so we hit the road that morning bound for Bergen on the west coast. We were no more than 30 mins on the road when I spotted an IKEA. Dad had never been to one so I suggested that we have a look around, he readily agreed. We had a walk around and he was very impressed and all that was followed by a hearty lunch in their subsidised restaurant where we had a meal of sausage balls and potatoes. Dad found it hilarious when the guy serving the food described them as ‘balls from the pig’. We continued on again stopping for coffee and groceries but the best stop on the way to Bergen was the Gorge (don’t know the name) that was a mile deep with a roaring waterfall. The scenery changed dramatically as we left Oslo and entered the countryside. It was initially very forested and gradually as we climbed into the mountains it became very cold and barren with snow still visible. Along the roads where mountains are everywhere the Norwegians have tunnelled. As dad said ‘There must be six million tunnels!’ some of them 15 kilometres long and driving at 120 kmph through them was exhilarating. As Norway became more rural, the bridges across the fjords became ferries and we were boarding ferries every 50 kms at €10-€15 a go. We reached Bergen about 9pm and the campsite was full so we did our car park routine once again.

09 Aug We had about 10 hours sleep last night and were up and out at 8am followed by a swim in the nearby fjord. We headed into Bergen centre, stopping off for breakfast along the way, about 10am. Bergen is a beautiful low rise city of about 500,000 people. It rains there about 275 days a year so we counted ourselves lucky that we had one of the 90 good days. After a good look around we were on the road again heading north to the main fjord region. We hopped from Ferry to Fjord to tunnel and all over again driving at a snails pace with all the tourist traffic slowing down and looking at everything but the road, even dad complained of the slow driving! It was a Sunday in Norway and nothing was open. We must have driven through 3 villages and 2 towns looking for fresh bread for our lunch but no luck. We eventually found a place but don’t rely on buying anything Norway on a Sunday.

10 Aug Up and out at 8am and onto a ferry again. More tunnels, fjords, uphills and downhills. The roads were so twisty, one particular bend was so sharp that my 25 litre water container broke free from its position and smashed one of the containers next to it. No serious imposition and we continued on. We visited two towns; Allsund and Trondheim where dad paid €21 for a mediocre dinner in a café which I flat refused to eat at that price. I went across the road to a petrol station and had a €5 hotdog. We decided not to travel any further north as we had seen much of what Norway had to offer, going was very slow and expensive and time was running short. We headed East to the Swedish border and my when we arrived in Sweden the pace took off. We drove about 500 kms today and once over the border we found a lovely rest area with swimming, café, toilets etc. Norway is stunning but rob a bank before going there and don’t spend too much time in the capital.

Aug 11 Up and out at 8am and dad had a swim. We had a coffee and pastry breakfast in the café as a thank you to the owner for providing such a lovely facility free of charge. We were on the road 90 mins later and drove westward to the Baltic Sea. At a town on the coast called Ornskoldsvik we turned north and headed to the Finnish border along the coast. We drove 630 kms today and finally made the border about 8.40pm. We drove on a bit to a roadside rest area for the night

(Part 2) Dublin to Copenhagen.

2009-08-03T21:27:00.004+01:00

August 03rd 2009

European Leg of the world tour

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31405705@N08/

24th July After an 8am breakfast kindly prepared by Maiike we were soon on our way to Utrecht. It turned out to be my favourite Dutch city with traditional Boutique shops, canals full of activity with wildlife, stunning cruisers and timber speedboats. It had a real stereotypical Dutch feel. A couple hours later we headed to Rotterdam, an hour down the motorway. Rotterdam is a new city and lacks the charming centre of the other older Dutch cities. Its an interesting place however and boast the largest docks in Europe and has many strange architectural creations. A couple hours later we drove another 30 mins down the motorway to The Hague. It too was a beautiful city and although its not the capital its the home of the Dutch royal family, many foreign embassies and the Government but didn’t match Utrecht. We headed to a campsite in a town nearby called Delft for the night.

25th July We headed into Delft this morning and as expected was a lovely spot, typically Dutch with cobbled streets for pedestrian and cyclists. I think the Dutch have a great life balance with work, family, socialising and exercise all built into normal life. After Delft we headed off up the coast to Haarlem, a suburb town of Amsterdam. It was a really cool place with a huge café culture around the canals. After a couple of hours there we were in the van again heading up the coast. It was strange driving along the coast during the day and not being able to see the sea. This of course is because of the Dikes block the view as sea level is level with ground level and the Netherlands otherwise would be liable to serious flooding without them. A couple of hours later we were in a town called Dan Helder. This is a gateway town to an island called Texel off the north coast of Holland. We took the car ferry and arrived there 30 mins later. It’s a nice island, very clean and well kept with lovely little postcard towns. We bought food in the supermarket and headed to a place called Cocksdorp which was a peninsula with a lighthouse. We cooked up there, had a couple pints in the local pub and slept like lords.

26th July We toured around the island a bit stopping at towns, villages and beaches before boarding the ferry to the mainland in the afternoon. Making our way toward the German border we crossed the ZuiderZee enroute. The ZZ is a 32km long causeway built to connect 2 provinces and as part of a huge land reclamation project. It now separates sea water in the North from fresh water to its south. It was great driving over it as I had learned about it in national school and always wondered about it. That evening we arrived in Groningen, the most Northerly city in Holland. It wasn’t great there and went to a campsite on the outskirts of the town.

27th July We left Groningen this morning bound for Bremen. New roads around Groningen were giving Mary (the Sat Nav) a hard time which delayed our departure from the Netherlands. It took us about 3 hours to get to Bremen. I particularly wanted to get there to meet up with Jorg, our 70 year old friend from Me and Fiachras Antarctica trip. He had given me his address and Mary brought us to his door. Unfortunately he was not in and we walked the 1.5kms into the city centre to have a look around. Like most cities, Bremen is not without its rough edges but had a very pretty centre. We intended to head to Hamburg today but after stopping at a very nice service station we decided to make the most of their green areas and relaxed for the rest of the day.

28th July Woke up this morning and there was a Cork car parked beside us. Inside there was a lad and a girl fast asleep with the seats rolled back. On my way back to the van after my shower he was up and about and I asked him if he had a good nights sleep. He muttered something and it turned out he was Polish. Later on our way to Hamburg we battled tailbacks miles long due to huge Autobahn upgrade works. Hamburg was lovely (descriptions sounding familiar?) we went to this café and asked for 2 Americanos (Black Italian coffee) and the waiter brought us out 2 cocktails (at 11am!) He got into a right strop when I told him that we did not want them. He said ‘you are not in America now, you are in Germany’ and americanos are cocktails here. I told him Americano is an Italian invention and we were Irish. I think he lightened up then and was quiet amicable after that. After a few hours in Hamburg we set off on the long journey North to Denmark. We drove through the Jutland island province and across the bridge to Odense island province. We camped at a service station outside Odense city for the night.

29th July We made the short journey into Odense city this morning. It’s a nice town but not much in the way of historical buildings. While walking along the main street, I heard a familiar tune. A street busker was playing Galway Bay and singing it in Danish. I gave him a big cheer but got a blank look back. I think he just wanted money. We soon headed off to Copenhagen. We went into the city centre but couldn’t get accommodation so before we headed out onto the motorway for a service station, we went to a place called Christiana. It’s a famous hippy commune in the city that the Government want to close down and there is a lot of resistence to it. Deciding to see for ourselves, I reckoned Christiana was a low life drug den and the whole hippy thing was a cover up.

30th July Back to Copenhagen and we checked into the Cabinn hotel where I had booked for myself and dad. We checked in for 2 nights before going on a self guided tour of the city visiting the National Museum, royal palace, parks and Hans Christian Andersons Little Mermaid statue. Copenhagen is a fabulous city and we walked around for 6 hours before returning to our room completely knackered.

31st July We went to Tivoli Gardens (an amusement park in the city centre) and hung out there for most of the day. I went on the roller coaster which was great but was over in less than a minute. It cost €8 and had to queue for 40 mins to get on, don’t think I’ll be going on it again. The Tivoli complex is a great spot with restaurants, free concerts, man made lake with a galleon complete with fish and ducks. It’s a great place for children with all kinds of sweets, chocolates and ice cream available. That evening we went back to Tivoli to see a concert by this Danish lad who is very popular in Denmark. It was shite but still hung around for a few drinks and soaked up the atmosphere anyway as Tivoli is totally different at night when all the lights are on.

01st August Up at 6am this morning and the end of a short era, Eilis was leaving for home and we both checked out of the hotel. I walked her to the train and thanked her for her company, wished her well and she was gone. I met up with a guy called Rene later in the day. Me and Frog had met Rene in the Gallapagos in March. He showed me around some amazing buildings and gave me a locals viewpoint of the town. We decided to have a beer by the Opera house and 2 small beers cam the hotel e to €17, I nearly choked. He had to leave early and we arranged to meet tomorrow. I went back to the huge National Museum for another look. There is a Gay Pride festival ongoing in Copenhagen and there are no shortage of eccentric characters knocking about. There was a huge open air concert in the city centre which I went for a look tonight. Johnnie Logan was playing too.

02nd August I slept in the van last night in the car park across the road from the hotel. I was popping in and out of the hotel to my hearts content using the bathroom, TV lounge and wifi. I supposed they recognised me from staying there and didn’t realise I’d checked out that morning. I went to Rene’s apartment this morning for breakfast and a shower. He had laid on a lovely Danish breakfast complete with Danish pastries with little red and white Danish flags. I met with Brigette his girlfriend, whom Id met on the Gallapagos aswell and was great to meet her again too. Fair play to Rene, he had taken my sleeping bag and washed it too. We headed off sightseeing to the lakes around Copenhagen where the Danish Olympic rowers train and even met one of them (well, I actually just walked by her) and walked around the royal gardens that overlook the lake. We later visited one of the most upmarket areas of Copenhagen and saw the Swiss and Polish embassies.
For the afternoon we went to the supermarket and bought a whole load of Danish food and Rene made lunch for the two of us. It was fantastic except I didn’t like the Pork Pate. On a full belly we went to the Carlsberg museum which was extremely impressive. Mr Carl Jacobsen started the brewery in the 1850’s and currently produce an equivalent of over 15 billion bottles per year worldwide. That evening we went to Rene’s fathers place and his other sons girlfriend (who is Moroccan) put on an amazing Moroccan meal. The family were very friendly and hospitable and I had a great evening. I left a couple of hours later and headed to the airport to collect Dad. He was late coming through due to a huge number of arrivals but we were in the hotel by 11.30pm when Dad discovered he had locked his suitcase and taken the wrong key. With a lend of a Pliers from reception we soon had that problem out of the way.

03rd August Up and out at 8am for breakfast in the hotel. It was a lovely buffet and we stuffed ourselves. Due to the high prices in Denmark we made our lunch from the buffet too and off we went to city hall to get the sightseeing tour bus around the city. It rained all day which hampered proceedings and most government run museums are closed on a Monday which didn’t help but we still managed to see the city, the Hans Christian Anderson Little Mermaid Statue, Rosenburg palace, St Pauls church (Dads favourite) and went around on the bus for a second time just to make sure we got all the info. That afternoon we went off to a town called Roskilde, 30km from C’hagen to see a Viking museum. It was a very impressive complex with indoor and outdoor exhibits, Replica Viking ships, salvaged ships, ships under construction, workshops for kids who want to make their own Viking shield and the Glendalough; a replica Viking ship that sailed from Denmark to Ireland return a few years ago. It was a great day out and good craic, despite the rain.

Dublin to Copenhagen

2009-08-01T19:26:00.002+01:00

August 01st 2009

European Leg of the world tour

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31405705@N08/

Dublin to Copenhagen

15th July After 8 weeks of preparation and the van finally ready, I set off from Galway at 10pm bound for Dublin. I arrived in Lucan Co. Dublin (Home of Eilis, my first travel buddy). Whilst driving slowly through her estate after dark looking for her house the local Gardai spotted me in a white unmarked van acting in a suspicious manner after midnight. They pulled me over. After a long chat about my name being similar to a jockey and about living in Galway, the Garda did one last Giraffe neck impression trying to smell my breath as he had me talking, they eventually sent me on my way. Hoping this was not a start to a series of rendezvous with the Law and order of Europe, I pulled in to the side of the road and went to sleep.

16th July I knocked on Eilis door at 6.00am and after a quick shower we were on the road at 6.40. We arrived at Irish ferries and the check in lad gave me an ear full for booking the van as a car online in an attempt to save a €100. I gave a feeble defence about vehicle height and weight and it being my first time so he let me go ahead on the promise I wouldn’t do it again. Arriving in Holyhead later on, we drove another 300 miles to my sister Louise’s flat in Putney, London. We got there after 7pm having battled the London rush hour traffic. Fair play to Louise, she had beds made up & dinner and dessert on the ready. She was a great host and despite being dragged into a couple of DIY jobs we had a lovely evening.

17th July After a great nights sleep we left Louise’s after 10.30am. I was greeted by a parking ticket on my van which I responsibly rolled up into a ball and put into the first recycling bin I could find. We headed for Dover, it was a lovely day and after a couple of hours were joining the queue to board the ferry. Dover is a very busy ferry port and by the time we got through the queue we had missed our ferry. We were put on the next one and despite the delay arrived in Calais at 5.30pm without incident. My biggest concern at this point was driving on the right with a right hand drive vehicle but it was fine and got used to it quickly.
We drove onto Brugge which was quiet easy thanks to the clear directions given by Mary my sat nav. We found our campsite and settled in for the night after a quick trip to the supermarket. We watched the movie ‘In Brugge’ on the laptop as a preview to our exploration of the town tomorrow. Sleeping beside a stranger that night for the first time was going to be more difficult for Eilis than me (as I had done this camper-vanning in Australia before) but with a little assurance and preparation, both agreed all went well.

18th July Up and out at a respectable 11am and off into Brugge city centre by foot by a fairly direct 2.5km walk. One thing is for sure, Brugge is beautiful. One old period building is more impressive than the next. We saw fabulously ornate churches, religious art and went to the Basilica of Blood where a few coagulated drops of Jesus’ blood on his shroud are on display. I queued up and went up to the altar where this woman was overseeing the proceedings, touched the glass container it was in and pretended I was having an amazing experience. Eilis was going on about feeling ‘Energy’ in the place but all I felt was a bit hungry. We went to another church to see a Michelangelo statue of the mother and child (only one outside Italy) and enjoyed seeing the scenes from the Colin Farrell ‘In Brugge’ movie. After a long day walking we went to this nice little Belgian bar and had a few lovely Belgian brews and a meal for under €17 each.

19th July Up and out at 10.30am and set off for Ghent. It’s a beautiful town with amazing buildings, cathedrals and canals and like Brugge in many ways albeit on a smaller scale. There seemed to be a festival being prepared for that evening so we were treated to warm up acts of traditional singing and dancing in full dress rehearsal and an excellent Scottish police band with drums and bagpipes.
That afternoon we headed for Brussels and was a nightmare to navigate around despite the sat nav, and proved all too much for Mary who was more confused than I was. We abandoned the van and got on the Hop on Hop off tour bus and saw the sights that way. Brussels is incredibly beautiful with palaces, cathedrals, museums and Boulevards galore. We saw the EU HQs and it must contribute hugely to the local economy. That evening after dinner we headed to Antwerp and arrived at a full campsite. The lady in charge suggested we park in the car park across the road and walk over whenever we wanted to use the facilities. She wouldn’t take any money… great Belgian hospitality.

20th July In order to get into Antwerp city centre as a pedestrian one must cross the Shelde river, but there were no bridges. They had tunnels! There were also tunnels for cars and trams too. The history on why they went down the tunnels route rather than a bridge was on display with photos of its construction but sadly only in French and Dutch. I gathered it was to do with bombing of vital links during the war and that was a way around the problem. Antwerp had a lovely town square but was business as usual after that. We left Antwerp later that afternoon and headed 2 hours south to the Ardennes, a hilly countryside region with picturesque villages and scenery in the Walloon region. We set up at a campsite in a village called La Rochelle en Ardenne and it was a lovely village set in a valley on a river. There was a festival of some sort ongoing and enjoyed a great fireworks display that night.

21st July We hung around La Roche en Ardenne for the morning and that afternoon headed for Maastricht in Holland though the Ardenne forest. On arrival in Maastricht there was a load of road layout changes and Mary sat nav got all confused again. Getting frustrated we decided to get out of the town and take the bus in. Our first accommodation choice no longer existed and was gone for the last 4 years (was listed in the latest Lonely planet guide to Europe) and we headed a little further out to a campsite. It was getting late in the day so postponed Maastricht until tomorrow.

22nd July We got the bus into Maastricht this morning and had a good look around. It’s a lovely town with great cobbled streets and nice upmarket shops. That afternoon we visited the towns of Aachens and Vals. In Vals there is an Obelisk in the middle of the town marking the meeting of the borders of Belgium, Holland and Germany where we posed for the essential photos whilst being in the 3 counties at once. That evening we showered and changed at our campsite and headed for Monshau over the border in Germany. We stopped at a motorway service station along the way and camped for the night for free amongst the trucks.

23rd July Up and out at 7am we started our journey from the service station en route to Monshau. Along the way it was lashing rain so we pulled into a national park car park along the way and climbed in the back for a snooze while waiting for the rain to pass. A couple of hours later we made coffee on the gas stove and we were on our way again into Monshau. It’s a beautiful quirky little town that has been caught up in a time warp. It has lovely little shops selling little bits and pieces with no multinational influence. Apparently during WW2, retreating German soldiers refused a direct order from Hitler to occupy the town as they felt that it was such a magical little place that it would be destroyed by the advancing allies if they did. Lucky Monshau. After that we headed for Venlo in Holland, a town near where my friends Stephanie and Maiike live. We arrived there that evening and Maiike had put on a wonderful dinner and filled us with wine. We had a great night and a call to Fiachra (my brother whom they had met in South America) was a highlight for the 2 girls. We slept in the van in their driveway that night refusing their kind offer of a bed for the night.

Homeward bound (Final post)

2009-05-25T22:37:00.002+01:00

29th April Up and out at 6.30am to catch the 7.30am bus from Lencois for the last time. 6 hours later we arrived in Salvador and went back to our Chinese kilo restaurant for a feed. We left for the airport with 2 ½ hours to spare before our flight but our bus to the airport was delayed and when it finally arrived it broke down in the middle of the motorway. With the sweat starting to appear a replacement finally arrived and we were on our way again. We finally arrived 45 mins before our flight and check in was supposed to be 2 hours prior. We walked straight up to the check in desk were ushered through and were on the plane before we knew it.
We arrived back into Rio that evening and decided to stay at Cobacabana this time around and stayed in the Mellow Yellow hostel . The place wasn’t great but if that werent bad enough, the bunch of English teenagers in our room drinking and shouting was too much. We quickly changed rooms.

30th April The Mellow Yellow hostel has now been renamed by me as the ‘Must have been Yellow’ hostel. All the mattresses and pillows were covered in a nursing home waterproof fabric which was most uncomfortable as ones back stuck to the mattress in the heat of the night. This morning, after wiping the drool from my face that would have otherwise been absorbed into the pillow, we decided to check out. Our friend Caroline (we had travelled with her through Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador) had arrived in Rio a few days prior and we decided to stay at her hostel a few blocks away. That afternoon we went on a ‘Favella’ tour. A Favella is a Brazilian shanty town, and it would be a lie to say there was no pre Favella nerves. We were picked up from the hostel by minibus and driven to the bottom of the Favella (built on a mountain side) and given a warning prep talk before we were whisked uphill by motorbike to the top of the town where we were to walk downhill through the slums. The streets are only 2-3 feet wide so other than the main road through it the only way to go is by foot. It is home to 200,000 people and is largely controlled by the drug barons. The houses are piled up on top of each other and built very shoddily with un-plastered red brick. The stench of raw sewage from the open sewers, the damp and disrepair of the place beggars belief. Surprisingly the kids seem happy and the residents appear quiet friendly. This may be natural friendliness but the tourist dollar has built and kept the school which is run by an Italian woman and is a slick operation with 3 school days in one (3 lots of school kids doing a 4 hour day). I’m sure this privately run school that’s free to the residents is something the locals value greatly. We were treated to a demonstration of the local kids drumming school (drumming is very important in Brazilian culture) but the one thing none of them had were drums. They used buckets and bits of broom handles and were taught rhythm and band discipline. They were fantastic and quiet musical. We saw a local art gallery and went in and out of shops, bakerys, cafes… all created in a squalid little corner and providing a living. One of the sad things in the Favella is that despite the improvement in education and the standard of living, a Favellan has a distinct accent and even if they could afford to move often don’t as they suffer discrimination from the main Rio population.

01st May Confirmed my flight home today to depart tomorrow. I decided to go shopping for gifts for myself and the nieces and nephews. The main out of town shopping mall area was 10 miles from the city so I got the bus. It was a nice place to eat but the shops could have been from any city in the world. Back to Rio empty handed.

02nd May Frog left for New York this morning and asked me to carry his Machete, a 18 inch knife. We felt that the successful smuggle of such a weapon would be easier for me as I’d be putting my bag through to Dublin would have more chance of success than Frog going into the States with it.
That afternoon I went out for a farewell lunch with Caroline before packing up and heading for the airport. I boarded BA248 for Heathrow at 10.20pm and off I went. Strange feeling being on the flight home, it was a turning point of travelling into the unknown and now to the known. In this trip I hadn’t travelled in return mode either and by continually heading east, a year had passed and brought me back to where I started. Knowing this fact in theory doesn’t prepare you for the strange feeling in reality.
The flight home was a night flight and the woman behind me in an attempt to get comfortable had her feet stuck in the pouch in front of her which unfortunately was the back of my seat. I had to content with her wriggling feet in my back and I regularly pushed her toes through the seat. That worked for a while. As it was a night flight I didn’t want to create a fuss and wake everybody around me.

03rd May The flight arrived in Heathrow at 2 pm local time after 11hrs from Rio, according to the captain the longest flight of BA over continuous water. My connecting flight to Dublin was cancelled and had to hang around another hour on top of my existing 2 hour wait.
Arriving in Dublin the first visible change was the new ‘Go-bus’ service to Galway taking the motorways only and no stops. 3 hrs 15 mins, and its only slightly quicker in a car, that was for me. Driving along in the front seat of the bus enjoying the familiar sights it was another strange sensation to hear my sister ‘DJ-Derv’ playing on the radio. I knew at that stage I was at home.
Eventually I got to Galway and negotiated a discount on my taxi fare to Bearna village (not sure if it was a skill I acquired while travelling through the 3rd world or the sign of the times in economically depressed Ireland) I was at home at 10.30pm, 29½ hours later Brazil to Bearna.
As I was at home early and unexpected I walked round the back of the house in the dark with big backpack on and peered through the window at my parents sitting in the living room. With a few light taps on the window and a wave, the lad was back and the enjoyment of a surprise return is always great.

04th May This morning I started shouting at my sister Dearbhla from one end of the hallway and hiding when she turned around. After the second time she realised who it was and following her hugs and yelps we went down to see Orna (eldest sister) and her 2 children (the youngest Cillian, whom Id never met) It was a bank holiday Monday and all had been invited over for coffee. I walked in anyway followed by Derv, recording it all for her youtube video. There was great excitement and Beabhin was shy, Cillian started crying but as kids do, forget quickly and climb over their uncle when conditions allow. Later on I went up to see Davitt at his new house and crept up behind him and made some by the by comment about the ceiling and as usual hiding any surprise, welcomed me back and shook my hand. On then to Davitts old house old to see Mairead and the kids ; Naoise and Saorise. They too were all new to me (Naoise had been born before I left but was too delicate to get acquainted with) and was great to finally meet them.

THE END

and back again to Lencois

2009-04-28T22:55:00.003+01:00

21 April Checked out the surfing beach in Pria del Pipa today which was good but otherwise relaxed like 95% of the population.

22 April Booked our flight south from Recife to Salvador with the intention of going back to Lencois and hopefully doing another 3 day trek.

23 April Up and out at 6.30am to catch a minibus out of Pria De Pipa. It was obviously the same bus the workers use as 16 of us were jammed into a 12 seat mini van plus the space our 2 big backpacks took up. Anyway we eventually got to a small town called Guiyana where after breakfast we got our big bus 4 hours souh to Recife. Once at Recife, we got a taxi to the airport and we were back in Salvador 4 hours later. Amazing the flight was 16 times quicker than the bus and 2.5 times the price and boy is it worth it. When we arrived at the bus station in Salvador we booked our tickets back to Lencois for which we had a 6 hour wait. There was a shopping centre across the road and easily spent the 6 hours browsing the shops, eating gorgeous food at the chinese kilo restaurant (a buffet where your food is weighed and paid for by the kilo or part thereof) a few cold beers and then into the cinema for the new Nicholas cage movie `Knowing´ which was crap but great to sit in a cinema again, slightly inebriated and with a bag of M&Ms and it all in English. Great.
At 11.30pm we boarded our bus and we were on our way to to Lencois.

24 April We arrived back in Lencois at 5.30am and went to the same hostel. After a couple of hours sleep we went down to breakfast and surprised our teachers freinds with our return. We checked out going on a 3 day trak but nobody else was going. There were interesting 1 dayers for the following 2 days which we opted for instead.

25 April Went on a 6 hour hike along the river bed of the local river. The walk took us along the walls of the canyon and hopped and walked along the rocks to a big water fall. The dog from the hostel, Roy, joined us and was great to walk with a dog again.

26 April Happy Birthday Louise (my sister). 8 of us went on a Chacaca tour (Chacaca is a local spirit made with sugar cane and infused with fruits and various other flavours) We got to this remote Brazilian farm by an army style troop carrier 4WD to do the tour on how the stuff is made and of course some tasting. The day also included horse riding, Tubing, Gourmet breakfast, Lunch and snacks. The guide, driver & cook and all the food and utensils came in the jeep with us too.

27 & 28 April Quiet days again, not doing much other than booked our tickets out of Lencois tomorow morning.

Lencois to Natal

2009-04-21T12:39:00.004+01:00

11 Apr Another quiet day here in Lencois, just hung around reading, chatting, eating and a few beers.

12 Apr Same as above but also went to waterfalls for a swim and was busy today as everybody is off work for Easter Sunday.

13 Apr I had a niggling toothache for the last few days and as it was Easter time etc, no dentists were open. So, down I went to the dentist this morning to see if he could sort it out. He was fuly booked for the day but Dan, my interpreter said I was in a lot of pain. He had a look that morning and said I desperately needed a crown but he could patch it up enough to get me home. I said that was fine and that afternoon I was on his chair again with me gob open. There was a receptionist on the front desk but he had no assistant, so I was holding the saliva sucker and passing him other things that were resting on my chest. He gave me an injection in the gum and 10 seconds later he asked me if my mouth was numb, I said no. Not being surprised as I reckoned the anesthetic would take a minute or two, and before I knew it he was putting another shot into me. I was numbed to hell for the rest of the day but the filling was in and the pain gone. Filling in Brazil: E13.50.
We booked our bus this evening and will be leaving Lencois tomorrow and working our way North to Recife.

14 Apr Caught our bus from Lencois and 4 hrs 30 mins later arrived at a bus station in a place called Feira de Santana where we needed to change buses. We had the usual problems trying to buy a bus ticket due to our lack of Portugese which is usually resolved with asking in Spanish and hoping they understand. Anyway, finally got our connecting bus a couple of hours later which was a total shit heap. For starters my seat was broken and was tilting downward ( so I kept sliding off the seat), I changed seats down toward the back of the bus near the toilet where that seat was broken too. The stink of piss from the toilet didnt help matters nor did the lad in front snorting and hocking his mucus. Then another lad who was not enjoying the snot chorus either decided to put his mp3 speaker phone on full blast to drown out the noise playing the most god awful brazilian shite. It was a 14hr bus journey and reckoned it was going to be a long night. I had two seats to myself and lay my head on the seat next to me and dreamt of how many smelly sweaty arses had been on this seat before my face. drool......

15 Apr After a long cold night (I was in my T shirt and the air con was on full blast) we arrived in Recife at about 11 am. Ater a train and another bus ride we arrived in our suburb, Olinda. We checked into our hostel, It had been 24 hours door to door and we were exhausted. It was a nice little suburb but we were there in off season and there was not a whole lot to do

16 Apr While we checking out this morning, the receptionist suggested that we travel with a Brazilian couple that were heading North too. They had a car and would be happy to give us a lift for a contribution towards petrol. They werent going as far north as us but agreed to drop us to the bus station in the town they were going to. We agreed and 4 adults with big bags squeezed into this Opel Corsa. They were nice people but didnt speak any English and we were the same so it was a journey of canned laughter and lots of waving and gestures. Along the way the driver stopped to ask a police man for directions, the cop asked why he was going there as it was not a particularly nice place to visit and suggested Pria De Pipa (where we were going. Go on the Guards!) so our trip half way turned out to be all the way to our hostel. It took 4 hours whereas the bus journey door to door takes 10. Pria del Pipa seems like a nice town, a bit on the touristy side but we dont mind that so much. With tourism comes comfort.

17 Apr We didnt do a great deal today. Pria del Pipa is quiet too, which is probably the way things are in North Brazil at the moment.

18 Apr We decided to continue North this morning to a place called Pointe Negro. We had to go to a city a couple hours North and then take a local bus to PN. Once in PN we checked into a hostel that was built as a mock castle with drawbridge and moate. Inside it was castle like, with slit windows and dark rooms. It was a nice idea but there were no common areas and socialising was done in the pub or your room. I was chatting (if you could call it that) to a Brazilian guy, with very little English, in our room and on hearing that I was Irish he says `Oh yes, like William Wallace in Braveheart´ I just agreed, not relishing a misunderstood explanation that indeed Mr Wallace was a Scotsman. We had a look around the area, booked a Dune buggy trip around the local sand dunes and ate the most amazing pizza I ever had.

19 Apr Up and out this morning for our Dune buggy trip at 9am. We were put with these 2 Brazilian girls as the buggys take 4 people plus the driver. It should be renamed the `Dune nothin´ trip as the 8 hour day trip had about 2 hours actual driving and about half of that on the sand. The rest of the trip involved stopping at views, an aquarium and swimming spots that were mobile shopping centres and all opportunities to squeeze more cash out of the tourist were employed. We finally stopped for a late lunch at a place that charged E10 for dinner, less than E5 was the norm. Of course there, the drivers are wined and dined for free. All that said the actual sand buggying was great craic but was a disapointing trip.

20 Apr We left Pointe Negro today having decided it was pointless going further North as the rains were getting heavier and more frequent and was definitely low season. We are going to work our way South again and we stopped in Pria de Pipa again for a few days.

Holed up in Lencois

2009-04-11T17:15:00.003+01:00

04 Apr Went on a one day tour of the area with 3 Israelis, 4 Germans and us 2 Paddys. Our mode of transport was an ancient VW bus that struggled all the way pulling 10 lads around the place and even broke down a few times. Along the way to our first attraction a bird flew in front of us and we hit it head on. We stopped and walked back to see if it was dead or if it could be saved. Not sure what type of bird it was but it was some sort of small hawk. The guide inspected the bird and told us, other than a cut on his leg, it had a broken wing. We put it in the van and the guide said he´d bring him home and try to get him better. Down the road a bit more the bird started squaking like a mad thing ( probably the shock subsiding and the pain hitting home) and jumping and flapping, with his one good wing, around the van. It was hilarious pandamonium, but the driver took it to the reception of the first attraction and as the staff were taking a look at it, it had a heart attack and died. Poor auld thing was terrified and probably wondered how its life had changed and ended in a matter of minutes.
Anyway we went down these caves and saw staligtites and staligmites and the silence down there, when the guide turned off the lights and told us to be quiet, was deafining.
Later on we went to rock pools where we swam and up this mountain for views of the surrounding valleys. It was a crap enough tour but had good craic with the lads.

05 Apr This morning at about 3am, I was awoken to the loudest bang Id ever heard in my life. It is coming into rainy season here and the thunder and lightening storms at night are getting more common. At the same time as that loud bang a bolt of lightening hit a hostel down the road and blew a hole in the concrete floor 6 inches across. All their electrics were melted and all appliances that had been plugged in were fried. All the rains of that night required us to take the 40 minute trek to the nearby river (known as the waterslide river, due to its natural waterslides) to watch the raging torrents swirl their way downstream. It was great craic hopping in and out of the pools enjoying natural swirlpools and jacuzzis. The water was really brown and is apparently full of healing minerals as the previous nights rainwater mixed with the forest floor which is on the outer edge of the Amazon.
That evening, Fiachra and a few of the other lads booked a 3 day trek for the following day into the national park. I decided to opt out of it as they were sleeping out in the open and probably going to get drowned at night.

06 Apr Today I went to the school for another morning of teaching the local kids. My job was to entertain and occupy the youngest kids (5+) while the teachers helped the older kids with their English and Maths. I had a pack of cards and played `Match the numbers´ i.e. put all the fours together and all the kings together etc. After a few rounds of that I moved onto `Snap´. They had never played it before and once they got a hang of it they were screaming with delight and hitting the table as hard as they could with their hands. The youngest ones were slamming down their hands and shouting snap even when there was no match. They couldnt undestand that they were not allowed have the cards. As I did not have the Portugese to explain it to them the older ones thankfully did that job. At the end of their 2 hour day (I was exhausted) I told them it would be poker tomorrow and to bring their pocket money.
That afternoon we (me and the teachers) went to the once weekly market but although it was interesting to see, I wasnt in the market for fish heads, boxes of un recognisable vegetables or chinese radio cassette players.

07 Apr Went on a one day hike today to see the Fumasa waterfall. It is a waterfall so high that the water turns to mist before it reaches the bottom. Getting there involves a 140km round trip by car and a 14km round trip walk from the car park to the fall. The waterfall was impressive enough but nothing like what Id seen before. Getting their was very scenic and the walking trails were lovely but the biggest laugh of the day was from this American girl. She asked me over lunch what the guides name was, as she had forgotten. I told her it was `Frango´ which means chicken in Portugese. We were howling with laughter as the guide was too polite to correct her and she was going on to him Frango this and Frango that.

08 Apr Is it that time of the year again? I spent a good deal of time this morning replying to birthday emails. I never knew how many one gets through Facebook. That evening the day was celebrated, over a few drinks in town, with a few people from the hostel.

09 Apr As we are pretty much stuck here over the Easter, Buses are booked out and nothing much happens in a Catholic country like Brazil at this time. The days are spent pottering about not doing anything much in particular.

10 Apr See above and add a visit to the waterslides and lots of people in town for the Easter break.

Salvador and around

2009-04-03T15:58:00.003+01:00

Mar 27
Being totally honest, Im not all that impressed with Salvador. It has all the hallmarks of a once fabulous city but now is looking quite decrepid. We had a look around the local plazas, cobbled streets and down around the harbour. We decided to visit this particular church, Iglesia San Francisco. It was of particular interest as they disgruntled slaves that were used in its construction, 400 years ago, decided to paint large genitals and pregnant bellys on the cherubs for the laugh.
When we arrived at the church this mad cross eyed old woman started following us around and occaisionally saying a few words and taking advantage of our politeness launched into a full tour. Of course we didnt request nor want her services (payment expected) and we started walking off in different directions. She asked me where we were from and I replied `Ireland´. She said `Oh you people from England never listen!´ We nearly choked and this made her worse. She stormed off and started shouting `Why do you bother coming here, have a nice flight home!´ ..... wierdo

Mar 28
This morning we left Salvador for Morro Sao Paulo, an island 90 mins away by speedboat. Its a popular tourist attraction as there are no cars and the roads are mostly sandy lanes. The taxi service are wheelbarrows only and whilst mostly used for luggage Ive seen it used to carry lazy kids, used as an ambulance and delivery truck. Everything on the island is done by handball (A term used to describe heavy labour with no mechanical help) and black Afro Brazilians carrying and pushing heavy loads all day with white tourists wandering around. Seems so unfair and perhaps a glimpse into what the days of slavery may have looked like. We had a wander around that night and although there were a few musicians in the restaurants etc., there was not much else to do for `active relaxers´ like us.

Mar 29
Had a lie in this morning and after a late breakfast we decided to take a walk around the island. We walked through the midday heat (35C+) on the sandy roads. The sand was soft and hard to walk in and was so hot it started to melt my flip flops. This was to last for 3 hours trekking through little villages, up and down sand hills and met no tourists (obviously off the beaten track or the only eejits not in their hotels with the a/c on) I was sweating like a squished sponge while the local kids were running around oblivious to it all.

Mar 30
Went on a boat trip at 9.30am with a good crowd but they all spoke Portugese except 3 Swiss girls which we chatted to. We visited some reefs for swimming and snorkeling, stopped in a lovely place called Boipeba for lunch and this historical town for an hour on the way back which consisted of 2 run down churches of little Architectural signifiance, and 22 unofficial tour guides asking for money. On the way home we stopped at this raft that was just offshore and they had fresh oyster tasting for E1.50 each. I declined.
That evening after a siesta we went down the town and met all the people from our tour again by accident, short akward conversations though with their lack of English and our absence of Portugese. I decided that night to invest in a new pair of swimming togs to replace the ones that I bought in 2006 on the O´Donnellan & Joyce Christmas party at the Westport House hotel leisure centre. They once were black but now a pale shade of grey and 9 inches shorter on the leg that the new `board shorts´togs that double up as everyday wear. We found this shop that the local used for beachwear and saw a pair for R55 (E18). After trying them on and about to break the news of a successful sale to the shop assistant, Frog whipped out the cash and paid for them granting me an early birthday present. Damn, I should have picked the ones for R105 (E35).

Mar 31
Left Morro Sao Paulo this morning bound for Salvador again. There were 11 passengers on board and 3 of them were puking there guts up. It was hard not to laugh but fortunately for us we had got our sea legs after 8 days on water in the Gallapagos.
Tuesday night is a big party night in our suburb (Pelourgrino) of Salvador. We went out onto the streets and mingled with the throws of dancing tourists and locals drinking beer and following these gangs of roaming drummers through the streets. We then went to an open air concert with more of the same enthusiastic locals and tourists drinking and dancing.

01 Apr
We left Salvador late this afternoon for a bus to Lencois, 6 hours west away from the coast. I was not too sad to be leaving Salvador as the heat and humidity was very uncomfortable. Lying in bed at night with no covers and the sweat on your back would make the sheets stick while you turned over. Prickly heat rash is common where sweat cannot escape (eg: armpits, the folds of your knees and elbows etc) and unable to take off your tshirt because it stuck with sweat is another common one.
We got to Lencois in the welcome comfort of an air conditioned bus at about 10.30pm, not an ideal time to be arriving in a new place and set about trying to find the guide book reccommended hostel. The guide book map was wrong and we were wandering around these dark shanty town streets looking for our accommodation. Thankfully its a safe quiet spot and eventually found it. Many of the streets cant be navigated by anything else but by foot and were all uphill from the bus station, so we were completely knackered, carrying our 20kg backpacks, by the time we got there.

02 Apr
It was raining this morning so we abandoned our walking plans and spent the day exploring the town and the rock formations up river once the rain stopped. My flip flops, that I bought in Thailand, were worn down to nothing so I bought a pair of the local `Havianas´ flip flops, not that they will disguise me as anything else but a tourist but they were needed badly.

03 Apr
We went to the local school to do a days volunteers work. As its was a Friday, it was arts and crafts day so we were helping these kids (ages 9-12) with their painting. Of course they got on with it so we got ourselves some paper and brushes and started at it ourselves. Being the biggest kids at our table and once the boredom set in, I put paint on one of the girls hands for the craic. She painted me back and before we knew it paint was flying and WW3 broke out with the boys putting paint on the girls and vice versa. We stepped back and just as we did the teacher came in and sent 2 of the girls home for misbehaviour. Ooops! We were dying to laugh as these two young wans with paint on their faces, in their hair and clothes were marched out and fair play to them they never blamed anyone else.

Quito to Rio

2009-03-27T02:00:00.011Z

Mar 20 Walked around town today to see a few more sights. That evening we went to the cinema which was surprisingly good where we saw `Slumdog millionaire´. Juan Jose (Fiachras freind from his Mattchu Pitchu walk) showed us around the city at night afterwards.

Mar 21 We went down to the Irish bar for the the 12.30pm kickoff between Ireland and Wales. There was about 30 people there making the noise of a hundred. It was a great atmosphere helped on by the nail biting 2nd half. Afterwards Fiachras freind, Juan Jose collected us and brought us to dinner at his familys house where we met his mother, brother and 2 sisters. We sat down to a typical Ecudorian meal consisting of two dishes made with corn (corn on the cob stuff). They were delicious and topped with a home made salsa. Afterwards we went up to the `Virgin de Quito´, a 40 metre religious monument standing on the highest point looking down over the city but before we arrived a thick fog came over us and we saw little.
We ended the evening with a drink of some local stuff in the old town and then out to the new town for a few more drinks to celebrate the Irish Grand slam win.

Mar 22 A quiet day today before our flight to Rio de Janeiro this evening. At the airport we parted with a tearful Caroline as she was off to Bogota in Colombia on her own. We had travelled with her since the 16 Dec and was going to be different not having her around.
Our flight to Rio via Lima gained us a laugh when the cheese and ham sandwiches nightmare (thats all we could get to eat on buses and planes in Argentina) came back to haunt us. The air hostess announce the the catering trolley was on its way around with two options..... cheese and ham sandwich or cheddar and salami. We looked at each other and laughed.

Mar 23 Arrived in Rio at 5.30am this morning. We got the bus to a upmarket suburb of Rio called Ipanema. Frank Sinatra once sang a song about the `Girl from Ipanema´ and there are no shortage of them, with and without dangly bits. Its a beachside neighbourhood and we quickly realised it was very expensive. Everything is over 3 times the price of Equador and 5 times the price of Bolivia at conservative estimates.

In our hostel, the dorm we are in has 9 beds arranged in 3 sets of triple bunks charginging the princely sum of E15 per bed. The only bathroom serves 36 people. In Peru we were getting a private 3 bed hotel room ensuite for E5 each.

That day we walked along Ipanema beach promenade and watched the local playing soccer volleyball (volleyball with no hands allowed). It looked really difficult and were very surprised to see how good the girls were although their bikinis, known locally as dental floss, was most distracting.

Mar 24 Went on a tour of Rio today. Our first stop was the `Sugar Loaf ´, an iconic cone shaped hill at the entrance to Rio harbour. Rio is a beautiful city when viewed from afar but at street level the city is a stark contrast to its lofty beauty. There are fine old buildings and some interesting modern ones but the graffiti and the dereliction off the main street is eye opening and any number of less savoury locals hanging around. We went into a rougher side of town to see the convent stairway of Santa Tersa to a Favella (Brazilian shanty town) which links the city to one of the rougher city neighbourhoods. The stairs were of particular interest as they are completely tiled with tiles from all over the world. The artist, Jorge Seleron, is an ecentric individual but had a laugh with him as he posed for photos on his steps. Bono and U2 had shot part of one of their videos here.

After lunch we went to see the `Christ the Redeemer´ statue, the famous one with the big Jesus with his hands out overlooking Rio. It was 40 metres tall plus the pedestal and was huge. Unfortunately it was very cloudy and we saw little more than his outline and no view of the city. We drove down the hill to a point below the clouds and saw great views from there. Our tour bus was a new Volkswagen minibus van but in Brazil Volkswagen are still building the old 1970s design (with the tyre on front). It felt like we were travelling back in time looking at the old switches and pedals in brand new condition. I remember our old VW Variant that had similar fittings.

That evening we were coming back from the supermarket with 2 frozen pizzas and we were approached by a street kid and an old man on seperate occaisions asking if they could have them. Although we declined, it was striking how tough some people have it there and we were in one of the best places.

Mar 25 We booked to go on the Favela tour this morning but due to a big drugs haul by the police it was cancelled. The rival gangs started shooting each other that morning, suspecting the opposition tipped off the police. We decided to postpone the tour until we returned in a months time. We also booked our flight north to Salvador tomorrow. We intended taking a 27 hour bus there but realised that we could fly there cheaper and only taking 2 hours.

Mar 26 Headed off to the airport this morning and after a 45 min delay finally boarded our plane for Salvador. Even as we flew out of the city those damn clouds denied us of the amazing postcard view of the city, Bay, beaches, Mountains and monuments that makes Rio so impressive.
We arrived in Salvador at 6pm and took the bus to Pelourhino, the suburb where we were staying. As we drove through the city, one could be forgiven for thinking you were in Africa. The citys black population is in stark contrast to Rio (due to its huge slave population built up over the last few hundred years) and the heat is unreal.

Part 2: The wierd and wonderful Galapagos Islands

2009-03-18T20:05:00.010Z

12 Mar This morning we went again with our guide to the Charles Darwin centre as part of our cruise itinerary. Although we had done this independently already is was good to have a guided tour also. After lunch we went up into the highlands of Santa Cruz island and saw more vegetation and turtles. We saw caves that were formed by lava flows and it was new to me that lava flowed just under the ground in tunnels. We had a walk around through them and then onto an extinct volcano crater.
On our way back to the island the guide got a call from the office that they wanted him to bring us around as they had some news for us. We went into the office and they explained that they had no replacement passengers for the ones that got off yesterday and they had no choice but to cancel the rest of the cruise. As we drew our breath they offered us an upgrade onto another one of their vessels the `Eden´. We were delighted as the Eden had cost $1700 for 8 days. Our cabins were outside cabins with sea view and the food, staff and space onboard was way better. We had to pinch ourselves that our luck was so good having got the other inferior cruise cheap to start with and then we were upgraded!

13 Mar We arrived at Bartolome Island this morning just before breakfast. Our first stop was Buckaneer cove for a bit of swimming, snorkeling and a walk around. That afternoon we went to James Bay to see the Gallapagos penguins and flying fish (they actually just jump out of the water). That evening we climbed to the top of a volcanic hill to watch the sunset and learned that we were looking out over one of the main sets for the Russell Crowe movie, `Master and Commander´. That night we set off for our overnight cruise to Genovese Island. As we slept we passed through the Equator into the Northern Hemisphere.

14 Mar This morning we awoke at Genovese Island, situated on the far North of the Gallapagos. It is a cresent shaped island is the top of an extinct sea volcano. We walked around and saw these birds with huge red bags under their beaks. They were the males and inflated them into a huge ball and simutaneiously flapped their wings frantically in a bid to attract a female. It was very funny to watch. We then went snorkelling (very welcome after hiking in 35C heat) looking for hammerhead sharks but to no avail. That afternoon we went on another hike to a place I cant remember.

15 Mar Our last day of the cruise today, we were up at 5.40am for a look around a remote part of Santa Cruz island where in a mangrove lined lagoon we saw mating turtles, sharks, mantra rays and pelicans. We finished up early and headed back into the main town, Puerto Ayora. We booked a scuba dive to do one of the most reknowned and scenic dives in the world, Gordon Rocks. We had a great laugh trying on various wetsuits trying to find one that fit as the Ecuadorians are so small that I had to wear XL (extra large).

16 Mar Up and out at 7am for our taxi ride to the scuba dive boat. It was a fine old timber yacht with dining area, toilets and showers. It wasnt entirely suitable for diving but was OK as they had a dinghy too. We did 3 dives, the first of which was a short and shallow refresh dive to familiarise ourselves with all the equipment and protocol again before diving to the murky depths. The second dive was a disaster as I couldnt keep down in the water and was continuosly fought against floating to the surface. The instructor was equally useless and swam off without me. I was alone in the water and for safety reasons had to return prematurely to the top, only 10 mins into a 40 minute dive. What a waste. The third dive an hour later was not much better as we were badly prepared and badly supervised when we were down below. Our dive instructor was a joke (he lost the whole group again) and our dive in the best dive site in the world was the worst Ive ever done not having seen the expected sea lions, white tip and hammer head sharks the area is so well known for. A Dutch family we were with complained to the company when we got back and they were told `Tough luck´.

17 Mar Up and out at 7.30am and off to the airport to fly back to Quito. Prince Charles had been visiting the island while we were there but we did not see him. His plane was in the airport and was interesting to watch the loading of all the royal luggage and boxes of documents, suits and endless hold all bags. His whole entourage nessitated a full on jet plane almost as big as the one we flew on. We finally got back to Quito and the St Patricks day celebrations were in full swing where we met up with our Dutch buddies again, Maiike and Stephaine.

18 Mar We took a walk around the old city today and saw the houses of Parliament, Cathedral and a few parks. Later that night we went out for a Mexican in the new town.

19 Mar Today we took a taxi to the Equator, 20km North of Quito. It is properly marked out at a centre with shops, cafes, museums where there were good photo opportunites. We had a good laugh jumping from the Northern to the Southern hemispheres and putting one foot on each etc. It probably is the most significant border in the world but we were out of there 30 mins later.

Part 1: The wierd and wonderful Galapagos Islands

2009-03-17T23:51:00.005Z

06 Mar Got the 9.40am bus from Alusi to Quito, the capital of Ecuador. We checked into our hostel and booked our flights to the Gallapagos at a nearby travel agency. They were also owners of a cruise company operating out there and offered us a last minute deal of an 8 day cruise for $1400 USD. We said that we´d pay $1200, but they declined. So we booked the flight anyway and decided to check out trips once we were there.

Later in the day we were in an internet cafe and I was sitting beside this lad who was wearing his headphones and singing away on his computer next to me. He was bopping his head and tapping his fingers and generally being an irritating git. I looked in his direction a couple of times hoping he would get the message that his attempt to be cool was backfiring in the extreme, but he didnt get the message. I didnt have the neccessary Spanish to convey my feelings (Oy d**khead! , shut the f**k up) so i put my headphones on but music was then required as I could still hear him. The online music was choking the internet speed so that failed too. Racking my brains and unable to concentrate on my interneting I came up with a plan. We were in a vegetarian restaurant earlier on and as a result I was farting like a volcano. Holding them in at the internet cafe had built up a large gas supply and I let them go all at once. Silent but deadlies, the green nerve gas danced and swirled its way left of my arse and entered my freind nose with devasting effect. In an instant the tapping of his fingers slowed, his face twitched and the singing stopped. His bopping head went from going up and down to moving left an right. My oblivious nature and my innocent face noticed nothing. A steady supply over the following 5 minutes had him packing and on his way. Great!
That night Frog met up with a lad he had met in Colombia and we all went out for a Mexican and beers.

07 Mar Up and out at 5am to get our taxi to the airport for our flight to the Galapagos. Our journey took us 950km west off the coast of Ecuador and over the Pacific to Santa Cruz, one of the bigger islands. We checked into our hotel in the main town, Puerto Ayora, and off down the town we went bargain hunting for tours. We went into this place that was selling the same tour we were offered in Quito and got it for $1100 each, $300 less than the Quito price. We couldnt believe that the Quito office let us walk away having offered them a $100 more each and now they have to pay that agent a commission too. Anyway, South America is full of bad business acumen. Puerto Ayora is a nice small town that is a complete contrast to the rest of Ecuador, the difference is money.

08 Mar We were due to set sail at 5pm so we had all day to look around. We went to the Charles Darwin centre where they had a historical and present day presentation of the Galapagos, a turtle conservation centre where we saw giant turtles that weighed 40 stone and their shells were as hard as rock. The conservation centre was neccessary as years ago turtles were taken on board ships as they could survive for a year without food and water thus making them an idea source of food and oil for the ships making the long journey back to Europe. They were too popular with thousands of turtles being taken and eventually brought to near extinction. The centre are incubating eggs and repopulating the islands.
That evening we got onto our ship, the Aida Maria, a 16 berth cruiser which was a nice vessel with good cabins, food and fellow passengers.

09 Mar Up and out at 5.45am for breakfast and briefing of the days activities at 6am. Firstly we went to Plazas island where we saw sea lions, heaps of birds and fish including Mantra rays. We walked around the island for a couple of hours and towards the end of our visit we came across a camera crew doing a documentary on Gallapagos finches for the `Nova Nature channel´ in the US. I posed in front of the video camera and had a photo taken with the camera man and the sound engineer playing along. Created a good laugh doing my David Attenbourough impression.
After lunch we arrived at Santa Fe island where we saw Iguanas, more sea lions and their pups which came up to us for a look. They were very funny and looked like they were doing a dance for us the way the walked and acted. They loved having their photos taken lifting their heads up and arching their backs with those big eyes looking at the camera. That afternoon we went snorkelling around some coral reefs and saw amazing shoals of the most colourful fish imaginable (no idea what they were)

10 Mar After travelling through the night we awoke to the spectacle of Espaniola island. We were at Suarez point which is a hotspot for wildlife. The amazing thing about the Galapagos is that each island is different and has different variations of animals and different ecosystems. Each island requires the animal and plant life to evolve differently to accommodate their different circumstances. On Espaniola we saw hawks, mockingbirds, lizards, Iguanas (miniture dinosaurs), blue footed boobies and sea lions. It was so amazing how close you could go up to them and they just sit and watch you in as much amazment as you are of them. We were under strict instructions not to touch them, not to use flash photography in their eyes, no food and keep at least 1 metre away (not always possible when they are chasing after you, playfully of course).
That afternoon we cruised to the other side of the island and went ashore onto Gardner bay, where we walked along the beach amongst hundreds of sunbathing sea lions. We then went snorkelling amongst schoals of tropical fish whilst dipping in and out of warm and cold currents flowing alongside each other (this creates a huge diversity of warm and cold water fish). We floated along with the fish going with the current and the tide, ebbing and flowing with them. An amazing experience.

11 Mar Up and out at 6.30am onto Post office beach at Floreana island. It was called post office beach as passing ships dropped off their mail into a big post box made from a whiskey barrel, had a look at the other mail and if they were going in that direction took it with them. Apparently it worked a treat back then and is still kept going by the tourists today. It was and still is a free service. Although nothing hitching a ride to Ireland at the time of checking. We didnt put any postcards in either as we only learned of its existence that morning.
Before lunch we went snorkelling at a place called `The Devils crown´, a rock formation about a mile off the Floreana coast. We saw schoals of fish and great under water rock formations. The most exciting thing were the white tip sharks checking us out and was great to be able to swim with them.
Later in the afternoon we walked to Cormorant point to a protected sanctuary beach where turtles crawl up on the beach at night, dig a hole and lay their eggs. It was a paradise. We set off at 4pm back to the main town, Puerto Ayora for supplies and offload some passengers that were on a 4 day cruise. Along the way we came across a family of Minke whales (up to 50ft long) and watched them come up to 20 ft off the deck. They were huge. As soon as they passed the dolphins arrived and they were jostleing each other to swim in front of the bow of the boat. They were jumping in and out of the water and seemed to be enjoying it more than we were. We got to the town and had the welcome opportunity to go to the supermarket, check internet and have a few drinks.
Part 2 due in a couple of days

Life´s a beach in Equador

2009-03-04T23:36:00.003Z

24 Feb Went for a surf lesson this morning. I had tried surfing before but this want the first proper attempt with instruction. E11 for 90 mins was expensive on Peruvian standards but was worthwhile nonetheless. Carlos was eventually my instructor after a short disagreement with the other instructor about who was going to get Caroline as their pupil. Instructors, the same horndogs all over the world. Anyway with my ego still intact we started the lesson on the beach with Carlos demonstrating how to get up to stand up on the board from the lying down position once a wave was caught. We repeated the drill a few times until he was happy with my technique, and off we went paddling the board out to the waves. I was lying on the board paddling with my arms and he was in the water, holding the back and paddling with his legs. Armed with plenty of horsepower, we caught the next available wave. I stood up, but not correctly in the middle of the board, and off I fell. After a gallon of saltwater up my nose and my eyes burning we regrouped and he said `Why you not stand on the board like I f**king tell you!´ I turned around (this was the first caught wave of my life) to him and said `Here you, Im paying you to teach me how to surf, not to give me shit. So, f**king teach!´ He was all apologies and doing high fives after that and telling me I was a great student (Of course, I agreed with that bit :-) )
That night we went out to a local steakhouse to celebrate Carolines 29th birthday, kindly paid for by a nice donation from her mother.

25 Feb Booked our bus tickets over the border to Equador and had a few cocktails that night to celebrate our departure from Peru, leaving Ben and Lizzie after 2 months travelling and Carolines birthday again and all paid for by us.

26 Feb Said our final farewells to Ben and Lizzie and our 9am bus arrived at 10.30am. Bound for Montanita in Equador via Guayaquil, the countrys largest city, the journey took 12 hours and 4 bus changes. Apart from the first one being late, all the others were waiting for us as soon as we arrived. Blessed. We weren´t feeling all that well due to the late night the previous night and hadnt eaten anything since breakfast due to the immediate departure of all our buses. By the time we reached Montanita I was famished and mad for grub and a cold beer.
Everything in Equador is in US dollars as they did away with their own currency a few years ago due to rampant inflation and counterfeit problems. This makes things easy to calculate and budget but its about 50% dearer than Peru.

27 Feb Montanita is a surf orientated beachside resort and today I walked all around the town and up and down the 5km beach. Got sunburnt too. Had nice food and a few beers and did nowt else.

28 Feb Kept low today protecting the bit of sunburn. We tried to watch the Ireland - England rugby game but nobody in town had the subscription for the ESPN channel we needed. Being Saturday night we went down the town sampling the cocktails from the stands lined up all along the roads. The Mojitos and strawberry Daquiris were great as locals and visiting hippies played guitars, drums and trumpets on every corner. Dang good 2am street burgers too.

01 Mar Decided to go and rent a Boogie board ( small surfboard for shallow water surfing) but they were half the price for an 4hour rental than to buy one so I bought it and the 3 of us shared it all day. Great craic.

02 Mar Left Montanita today on a minibus, chartered by 13 stranded backpackers (didnt pre book our away tickets) for $8 each back to Guayaquil, the main transport hub in southern Equador. After a rare lunch at McDonalds we headed to the Andean mountain town of Riobamba. It was an uneventful journey and we arrived at about 10pm that night. We went to an outdoor stall type restaurant and had steak, chips, salad, rice and veg for $2.75. It was really good too, except for an annoying street kid selling sweets. He insisted on putting them on our table and demanding payment. 3 times we told him no, but he kept saying `yes´ and putting his hand out. Eventually standing up and eyeballing him I explained, as I pointed at an adjacent bin, where his sweets were going if he didnt `Vamos!´. He got the message and a few local lads sharing our table had a good laugh over it.

03 Mar Had a look around Riobamba today and although its a pleasant enough town it wasnt up to much really. We booked our train tickets to the Nariz Del Diablo (The Devils nose) an apparrent marvel of mountain railway engineering. It is reccommended by the guide book as an incredible train journey down through part of the Andean mountains whilst sitting on the roof if one wished. We wished.

04 Mar Up and out at 5.45am to get the bus to the train station in Analusi, 2 hours away. We que-ed up for 30 mins for the tickets only to discover that sitting on the roof was no longer permitted due to a backpacker falling off the roof to his death a few months ago. What a con, we only went for the roof ride opportunity and that was the first we heard of it despite our previous communication with the company. They know only too well that they would lose loads of business if it was common knowledge that the roof ride no longer existed. The journey in the train was shite. The train pictured in all their gloss was an old steam train and what we got was a `Trainbus´an old American school bus fixed on top of a railway carraige chassis. What a bone shakin´ shit heap with filthy fogged up windows allowing passengers see feck all. Anyway, back to Riobamba without delay and on the next bus to a town called Banos. Arrived there 90 mins later and it seems like a good place.

The Nazca lines, the capital and the Peruvian coast

2009-02-23T16:56:00.007Z

14 Feb Left Arequipa today at 6.30am bound for Nazca. The 11hr bus ride passed easy enough and without incident. We booked our scenic flight over the Nazca lines. Nazca is a touristy town and has a population of about 50,000.

15 Feb Got collected at 8am for our Nazca lines flight. We had to hang around the airport for over 2 hours waiting for our plane. Eventually got up there (in the sky) to see what the lines were all about. They are mysterious lines in the desert, estimated to be about 3000 years old, that form either geometrical line formations or animal shapes including a monkey, spider, a whale and an alien....all at least the size of a football pitch. The amazing thing is that they are perfectly formed and are only visible from the air. On the ground they seem to be nothing unusual and even the monkey (unfortunately) has the Pan American highway running through its tail. It was good craic flying around in the single engine Cessna airplane, tilting way over one way and back over to the side to allow all passengers the best view. Inside it was smaller than an old mini, but comfortable none the less. Eventually got back to Nazca town and got the bus to the next major town called Ica. On the way we came across a car accident between a bus and a Daewoo Matiz, a tiny bean can of a car. It apparently had a head on collision with a bus of the same company we were travelling with. The driver of our bus stopped to check it out. We saw the car driver dead in a pool of blood and his passenger lying on the ground nearby screaming at him in shock, pain or horror or perhaps all three.
We arrived in Ica a few hours later and got a connecting bus bound for the capital, Lima. Arriving late that night we met up again with Ben, Liz and Caroline. They had gone on ahead of us as they dd not want to hang around while we climbed the mountain.

16 Feb Had a look around Lima city centre today including the Palace, the Catacombs and had a Pisco sour (famous Peruvian alcoholic drink) at the Royal Bolivia Hotel. A posh hotel reknowned in these parts for the best Pisco Sour in the world. It wasnt bad either. There wasnt a huge amount else to do in Lima and we booked our bus tickets north to a town called Trujillo.

17 Feb Hung around Miraflores (our district in Lima) and had the rare treat of a Starbucks coffee. I checked out the beach too but a strange sea mist covers Lima at times during the day so didnt see much in the way of views. That night we got our night bus to Trujillo.

18 Feb After a mildly uncomfortable nights sleep we arrived in Trujillo at 8am. From there we got a taxi to a coastal village 12km away called Huanchaco. Had a walk around town and a spot of lunch when I realised that if you are not sunbathing, surfing or swimming there is nothing else much to do.

19 Feb Went back into the main town, Trujillo to book our onward bus to Mancora. After that we went into the town to check it out. In the main square their were a whole load of local models trying out at some audition or something so we watched them and had a bit of craic with them, taking their picture etc. They were loving the attention. After a look around town and a bite to eat we went to the nearby ancient ruins called Chan Chan. The Chan Chan was the largest pre - Colombian city in the Americas but was taken over by the Incans and plundered by the Spanish.

20 Feb Arrived in Mancora and got a Tuk Tuk to the Point hostel. It was miles from the town and although it was right on the beach, it was a bit of a dump. Back into town on another Tuk Tuk where we were overtaken on the inside by a huge American pick up truck. It had been raining the night before and the truck went through a huge puddle to overtake us. We were drowned. He would have lived his last day today if I had caught a hold of him. We got to another better hostel (Loki) in the town & on the beach and with ensuite rooms overlooking the pool at E9 per night including breakfast, satillite TV and playstation.

21,22 & 23 Feb Just hanging around these 3 days and leaving for Equador on the 24th.

Peruvian towns, canyons ´n mountains

2009-02-13T22:20:00.009Z

07 Feb Left Cuzco at 6am on board our 11 hour bus bound for Arequipa. Although the scenery outside the bus was nice, not so much could be said for the inside. We were on the local bus with little or no ventilation. The locals must have a private agreement encouraging them not to shower for a least a week prior to departure and to keep the windows closed at all times (No a/c). The passengers that are picked up on the road along the way (drivers put the fare into their pockets) are required to stand as there are no available seats. These same people are quiet happy to put their big unwashed behinds on your armrest forcing you to sit in a tilted position. Farting by these same endearing individuals is not unheard (or ensmelt) of.
We arrived in Arequipa and checked into our hostel. We inquired about trips to Colca Canyon (The worlds deepest at 3km deep and twice as deep as the Grand canyon in the USA)

08 Feb Had a look around Arequipa and went to a museum to see a frozen child of sacrifice. Sacrificed to the Gods 500 years ago on top of a nearby mountain, the Incans believed that the sacrifice of this 12 year old girl would be the ultimate sacrifice and save them from extinction. The body was not as well preserved as the one we saw in Argentina and was more like a wig on a skeleton.

09 Feb Got collected at 3.30am for our trip to Colca canyon. The trip is a 2 day hike to the floor of the canyon where we spend the night and climb out the following day (on the back of a mule optional). The bus journey from Arequipa to the canyon was broken up with a stop off at a lookout to see the Condors (big black birds with up to 3m wingspan) that ride on the thermal updrafts from the canyon. However they turned out not to be the item of greatest interest. At the lookout we were greeted by swarms of huge bumblebee size flies, hundreds of thousands of them. They looked like beetles but thankfully were not aggressive. A while later we stopped and all the 2 days trekkers (5 Irish lads and Caroline) were told to get off. After a 30 min walk we got to the edge of the canyon and started our descent. I was walking with Caroline along a downward zig zag path at the back of the group, she wasnt feeling the best anyway and said she needed to go to the toilet urgently. There was nowhere to go so she grabbed her raincoat , covered herself, and down she squatted. In the meantime, in the interests of Carolines dignity, I had to run back up the hill and stop anyone coming around the corner. Coming down the hill toward me was a fully laden donkey and 6 local women whom I had to explain what was happening and stop them. Actions not Spanish was my language of choice, which they found hilarious. Trying to explain that my freind has Diorrhea and is in mid splat round the corner, and would you mind grabbing that feckin speeding donkey would had got first prize in any game of charades.
After 4 hours we got to the canyon floor and we stopped for lunch. This was followed by another 4 hours along the riverside to our overnight stop. I had to laugh at our accommodation (Articulately described as riverside cabins) which were cowsheds. It came complete with mud brick walls, mud floor and one would have been forgiven for thinking we were back in the famine times as the only natural light came from the open door. The beds were OK other than the diligent shaking I gave the sheets and the drip from the roof onto my covers.

10 Feb Up at 5.15am and hit the trail at 5.30. Todays hike was all uphill, Frog, the other lads and I walked it but Caroline (Dubbed by us as ´The Virgin Mary´ but later and more suitably shortened to Mary) went up on a rented donkey. Going up was tough and took me 2 hrs 10 mins but Frog did it in 1hr 30mins. After that we walked into the local town called ´Cobana Conde´ for breakfast. There was a 4 day festival in progress. Locals were putting beer in our hands and this woman in traditional dress pulled me from the crowd and started dancing with me much to the delight of the present TV crew and photographers.
Local kids were filling up balloons with water from the fountain and throwing them at each other. One of the Irish lads, Brendan, bought a filled balloon off one of them and threw it at me and went all over my t-shirt. I told him that an asssault on my person came with revenge served 10 fold. He was 6´4´´ and didnt seem worried. A few minutes later I snook over to the kids and said that there was a Soles (25c) for each kid that hit him with a least 2 balloons. Word spread and within 2 minutes there were gangs of kids pelting him and chasing him around town. We were sick with the laughter and he was drowned. It cost me about E4 but was worth every penny. Later on the craic was so good the kids started throwing them at any tourist they could find. One hit Frog, and so himself and Brendan grabbed 2 young lads (obvious ringleaders) and threw them in the fountain headfirst with their clothes on. The locals thought all this was hilarious as did we. We were glad though when our bus arived as WW3 was developing.
We stopped off at the local hot springs later on to ease our aching muscles, followed by lunch before getting back to Arequipa that evening.

11 Feb Recovery day today and we booked to go on a 2 day / 1 night guided climb to Mt Cochina.

12 Feb Got collected at at 8am to go on our hike to Mt Cochina (6075 meters above sea level). We went with Brendan from the canyon hike and there were 3 of us in total plus the guide. The trip involved driving by 4WD to a height of 4500m and hiking the rest. After a very challenging drive along terrible roads we got to the start at midday. We had 15kgs of all the neccessary food and gear on our backs. Its hard enough to climb with this weight but above 4500m even more so. The air gets thin and Altitude sickness can strike. We had a slow 2 hour hike to base camp (5200m) where we were to acclimatise and then attempt the summit at 1am to be in time for sunrise. At base camp it started to snow and we quickly put up the tents and got inside. There is nothing to do but rest until 1am the next day. We soon realised at that altitude there is less oxegen in the air and that sleep is a rare luxury. This was not helped by that fact that our sleeping bags were damp, our tent was drafty, cold and condensation within hampered any hopes of drying anything. I was in my sleeping bag and had a T shirt, 2 fleeces, 2 hats, 2 trousers and 3 pairs of socks on and still was shivering. The ground was hard and bumpy (despite having a thin foam mattress) and the constant shifting to get comfortable was as useful as a chocolate fireguard. In our refridgerated state we discussed the nice things we would do when we got back like hot showers and the great chicken kebabs in the turkish restaurant back in Arequipa.
Altitude sickness hit Frog first with a desire to vomit and severe headache, I followed soon after although unlike Frog didnt vomit. The snow was falling hard and having to leave the tent into the pitch blackness, not before putting on coat and boots on, with a ball vomit on the way up wasnt a pleasant sight.

13 Feb Needless to say, neither Frog nor I partook in the 1am departure for the summit. Frog was gutted, I was delighted. That said, being confined in the tent for 20 hrs was hell. Due to weight restrictions we had no book, Ipod or any other entertainment. Nature denied us sleep too. It was snowing, so it was too wet to venture out, too cold to open the tent door. Frog started to hallucenate and I was having annoyingly wierd dreams, even when I wasnt asleep. All Altitude induced. I counted the 184 condensation drops on the tent ceiling. Before the other lads came back from the summit attempt, the sun came out and it all warmed up a little. I opened the door and there was a little mouse sniffing around which I watched and threw him some crumbs. The highlight of the day so far.
Brendan and the guide came back at 10am after a failed attempt at the summit due to heavy snowfall. They had a 30 min rest and we dismantled the tents. We headed down the mountain and got our 4wd back to Arequipa about 12 midday. At the hostel we paid a little extra for the deserving luxury of an ensuite room with a TV. I was never so happy to be back in civilisation. Man dont belong in dem mountains.

Bye Bye Bolivia, Hello Peru

2009-02-06T21:13:00.008Z

30 Jan I didnt get to go to Isla Del Sol, the island in Lake Titicaca, as I was feeling under the weather. I was afraid of getting sick out there, delaying the others and wanting off the island. Didnt do much otherwise other than watch videos, read my book, do internet and change my Bolivianos into Peruvian Soles.

31 Jan Up and out at 8am to catch our bus to Cuzco in Peru. We crossed through the border with great ease and efficiency (what a surprise). An Italian couple on our bus had overstayed their visa by a few days and had to pay a E50 fine in Bolivianos, which they didnt have. The driver started taking their bags off the bus and told them they would have to get a taxi back to Copacabana in Bolivia to get cash out and take the bus the following morning. The girl was upset and started asking if anybody could help her, and I said I would. In exchange for her passport as security I gave them the money. We stopped at the next town and they got the cash for me. We arrived in Cuzco that night and were glad to get to bed and have a nice meal.

01 Feb Went into town today for a brief look around and book our tours to Mattchu Pitchu. Frog booked his 4 day trek there and we got the neccessary details to take the train there.

02 Feb Frog left at 4am for his trek and we did a bit of sightseeing. We went to the Cathedral, which had an amazing art collection from as far back as 1650. In the building there is a black Jesus on the cross, but the guide insisted that it wasnt always black, apparently this particular Jesus had candels lighting underneath it for years and the candels blackened it. We reckoned that that was a load of codswallop as the Jesus had an unblemished shiny black skin, probably carved from a nice piece of mahogany. The guide wasnt impressed with our laughter.
After that we went to this place that housed Incan ruins, not all that impressive but apparently the Spanish conquisadores had knocked down loads of Incan buildings and monuments as they were considered pagan and used the beautiful hand carved blocks to build their churches and houses.

03 Feb Caroline joined us this morning from Lima after a 2 week absence. I guess she missed us. We showed her around town and had a relaxing day generally. That night there was a quiz in the hostel in aid of Cuzcos homeless kids, which we won. We donated our prize of a bottle of champagne to charity on the condition that the organisers auctioned it there and then. It made about 3 times its value. They were delighted.

04 Feb Headed off this morning from Cuzco on our journey to Mattchu Pitchu (M.P). We were told by our booking office to be at their offices by 10am. We were there at 9.45 and were told the bus had gone and we had to get a taxi at our expense (4 times the price) , the theiving shits. We had no choice and got our cab to a town called Ollaytaytambo to catch the train. Travelling at breakneck speed to board the train on time we were subsequently told that due to track work we were going to be delayed another hour or so. Eventually after a very nice train journey we reached Agua Calientes, a thermal springs town at the foothills of Macchu Pitchu. Our train station pick up person never met us and we had to find the hotel ourselves. Not that we minded that much but another false promise by our, soon to be bad mouthed, tour agent. We hoped to meet Frog that night and trek with him up to MP the following morning but didnt work out.

05 Feb Up at 3.30am for our 90 minute trek to MP. We walked in the pitch dark up old Incan steps and mucky paths and eventually arrived for the 5.30am opening. We met Frog there and had a walk around the place. Its an amazing feat of human achievement to build a town on top of an isolated mountain. Its not known for sure why the Incans built it, but its believed that is was done to escaped the Spanish invaders and preserve their culture. The Spanish never knew about it. That evening we got the train back and arrived in Cuzco at 10.30pm and exhausted.

06 Feb Didnt do a whole lot today except go to the local Irish owned Irish pub, which is the highest Irish pub in the world, and have a customary pint of Guinness. It is the highest commercially available pint of the creamy black in the world. Went out to dinner and had the local speciality... Guinea pig. Hmmmmm. The night was kindly paid for by Carolines mother who gave Caroline 40 pounds sterling for me and frog for looking after her while she was sick. Great!

Part 2: La Paz and the mountainous high and lows of Bolivia

2009-01-30T17:58:00.004Z

22 Jan Up and out at 8.30am to join a tour of the Pampas, a huge grasslands with swamps and rivers on the edge of the Amazon Basin. We had a 3 hour 4WD drive to our boat. Along the way we stopped at some roadside place where Frog took the opportunity to hold wild snake. Eventually we got to our boat, a basic timber open boat with an outboard engine. We motored another 3 hours through narrow rivers where we saw pink dolphins, turtles and alligators. We pulled up alongside these bushes and a whole load of monkeys jumped on our boat. The driver had a banana and they climbed on top of me and sat on my hat in order to get to it. It was a shock at first but a good laugh once we got used to them.
That afternoon we arrived at our riverside lodgings where our guide coaxed an alligator from the water and gave him some sausage. He was a mean looking lad but did not seem interested in attacking anyone. That night we headed off to a local riverside bar in our boat to watch the sunset and then on a night cruise to see the nocturnal wildlife and listen to the jungle wildlife at night. The driver caught a baby alligator which we all took a look at and Frog took a hold of it. We all had our torches and were told to shine it on the shore. Red eyes at night means alligators...

23 Jan While waiting for breakfast in the dining area ( a netted timber frame) and our Alligator freind wanted his breakfast too. He walked all the way from the water to where we were and stuck his head in the door wondering where his feed was. We got some good photos of him, he is about 18 years old and damaged his tail in a fight. They call him Pedro and out of neccessity has become tame and lives off scraps from the lodging. He moves around freely but is treated with caution.
Later that morning we went trekking through the marshes looking for Annacondas ( a large snake that kills its victims by squeezing them to death) These marshes have a very potent fungus that requires the disposal of your shoes after you walk there. I borrowed a pair of wellies but threw away my socks after. Frog has caught a foot rash though, he kept his socks until he discovered the rash. After an hour walking around with the guides we found one and not too soon. (We were being devoured by mosquitos and flying insects. My back and legs were covered in bites despite having long sleeves and trousers on and repellant. The intense heat and humidity caused so much sweat that it washed away the repellant in no time. I counted over 20 bites below my left knee alone.) The Anaconda was about 6 foot long. We were so uncomfortable though we just took a quick look and a few photos and left, Of course Frog had a photo of it around his neck. 45 mins later we were back at base and after a cold shower, I collapsed with exhaustion into my bed only to wake 2 hours later in a pool of sweat. That afternoon we went looking for pink dolphins again but with limited results. One of the Dutch girls, Maiike, celebrated her birthday with us over a few beers. The mosquitos had given her over 420 bites that day.

24 Jan We were up and out and on the boat at 5.30am to view the sunrise over the Pampas. We motored along for about 10 mins or so and landed at this place not very different from the Anaconda landing. We walked 20 metres saw the sun starting to rise and a shallow mist across the landscape, It was very beautiful and before I could take my camera out we were descended on by a plague of hungry mossies. We ran to the boat with the driver in hot pursuit and off we went back to base for breakfast. We all looked like a hospital of German measels.
The next thing on the aganda was piranha fishing, but I opted out as I was tired of the boat and the hostile natives as did 4 of the others. Frog went but didnt catch anything, the guide did though. While waiting for lunch and not breaking with tradition Frog straddled Pedro the Alligator and did his customary nude shot. Hollers of laughter and disgust from staff and tourists temporarily drowed out the jungle chorus.
After lunch we packed up and shipped off back to Rurrenbaque, half by boat and the other half by 4WD. Our 4WD home was a troop carrier (Seats facing opposite in the back rather than forward) with bench like seats and we had to endure 3 hours of that along seriously bumpy tracks back to Rurrenbaque. We went out for a well earned dinner and a few beers that night only to be told by the waiter that no alcohol could be served as there was a referendum on the following day. Apparently its an offence to sell alcohol the day before in case anyone voted under the influence. He said though it was Ok to serve cocktails, strange world. I left early as I was not feeling too well.

25 Jan Woke up in the wee hours feeling terrible. I was sweating like crazy and went to the bathroom and started puking from both ends. Whilst sitting on the toilet, I fainted and collapsed in a heap on the bathroom floor. I expect I would have been there for a while only for Fiachra shouting wondering if I was Ok. I went to the bathroom a few more times that night and felt a bit better in the morning. I stayed in my room all day and it was sweltering hot. Although the mossies werent as bad as in the Jungle, they still took plenty of bites out of me.

26 Jan Up this morning and had a herbal tea and a banana for breakfast, hopefully a sign of a recovery. We went to the airport for our flight back to La Paz. The plane was a 14 seater banger from the 1970´s, although it couldnt be worse than the bus. When we landed in La Paz, the change of environment was amazing with cool dry air... lovely. Went downtown and had some healthy vegetable soup.... I could feel my strength coming back to me.

27 Jan Booked out tickets out of La Paz to Sorata today, a place we were told was amazing for trekking and mountain biking. After that we went to our favorite cafe ´100% Natural´ and for E1.60 had a huge fruit salad. The thing came in a casserole dish full of fruit, muesli, honey and yogurt. Divine, it was so big that frog had to help me finish it. That evening we joined Ben and Lizzie for a going away celebratory slap up Indian in the ´Star of India´ restaurant.

28 Jan Went to the bus station to get our bus to Sorata. We were supposed to be on the 11am bus but the counter assistant had booked us on the 11am bus yesterday. After a bit of persistence and insistence, we got on the next bus an hour later. We arrived in Sorata (pop. 2000) about 3 hours later, and it seemed like a dump. We walked a mile downhill to our hostel and checked in before returning to the town for a proper look. We wanted to eat but everything was closed, we eventually found a street food stall and I ordered a fried egg and onion sandwich. The lady serving had to lean into the bun and saw it in half. Pure stale. Frog ordered fried onion and fried sliced sausage. There was green mould in the sausage.
Our attention was sidetracked to a mob congregating in the square so we went over to check it out. Two lads were being marched into the square with signs around their neck stating that they were theives. They were marched around the square and whipped on the legs at every corner. There were 5 lynchmen and they all had whips and gave a short speech at each whipping. Eventually they gathered at a spot and one of the daughters of the accused ran from the crowd and started hugging her father, wailing and refusing to let him go. We were taking pictures of all this and were spotted and the crowed turned on us and chased us away. Watching from a distance the boys got flogged until they collapsed in a bloody heap. Ironically it all occured outside a police station with a few of the officers casually looking on. That evening the restaurants were open again and we went back into town for a feed. It was dark and so were the streets. As we walked home we were set upon by about 5 sets of different dogs. We threw stones, kicked and shone our torches in their eyes and manged to get home intact. Some of these dogs owners just stood by and watched them attack us.... inbreds. That night, Id have drank a whiskey if I had a whiskey.

29 Jan Needless to say we got the hell out of Dodge and were happy to leave Bolivia finest behind us. Our 9.30am bus left at 10am once it was full and off we went. About 10 mins out of town we came to a traffic jam, another landslide we thought but the previous nights heavy rain completely washed the road away. An agreement was made between the bus drivers on either side that they would swap passengers. We unloaded our bags and worked our way across the sludge and rock where the road used to be. The landslide was still in action albeit at a much slower place and watched rocks and boulders fall down the mountain side. We were off again and I observed the woman sitting beside us give a plastic bag to her infant child to play with. It was enjoying the crunching noise of it and was putting it in its mouth. What differnt societies we live in.
Arrived in Cobacabana on the shores of the breathtaking lake Titicaca (the highest navigable lake in the world) and met up again with Ben and Lizzie, we booked our 1 day trip to Isla del Sol. The island is apparently the birthplace of the Incan gods and worth a visit. I began to have a dodgy stomach again this evening. I had more bottom vomit and didnt go out for dinner tonight.

Part 1: La Paz and the mountainous high and lows of Bolivia

2009-01-26T17:15:00.004Z

16 Jan Up and out at 5.45am this morning to go bike ride the `Worlds most dangerous road´. The road runs downhill 64km from a place called `La Cumbre´ to `Yolasa´ which is about 95km away from La Paz. We descended from a height of 4640m down to 3345m. Our first stage was along tarmac through the thick mountain top fog onto gravel mountain roads as wide as a country lane. The roads edge dropped 1000´s of feet with no protection, as we flew down. We had state of the art mountain bikes with thick tyres and front and rear suspension that just chewed road. It was savage craic. Also known as the `Death road´ there are lots of crosses in memory of people that met their maker along the way. We saw trucks down the sides of mountains and somebody told me they saw a bus too. We blazed through mud, rivers, waterfalls, jumps, gravel bends and avoiding oncoming traffic. It was a pity it had to end and we seriously thought about doing it again.

17 Jan We decided to go to La Paz prison Aka San Pedro Penitentary for the guided tour. The tours are given by the prisioners. Its all unofficial, off the record and E25 bribe must be paid to the guards to get in. Once inside you need to hire a bodyguard as you mingle with the hardcore of Bolivian prisioners. We were shown around different districts (the more you can pay the better the accommodation/district you can live in), the Kitchens, courtyards, gyms, football pitch.... There were shops, restaurants, repair shops and little factories making toy cars, crafts and another making cocaine powder. Its not a conventional prison arrangement, its a town in its self that you live in and make your own way. The guards dont move from the exits. The inmates are allowed their wives and children to come and go freely and some even live there. Our guide was full of shit and a bit of a nutcase but we saw what we wanted to see. Frog did his usual Nude pose in the prison showeroom whilst bending over to pick up a bar of soap. He had the onlooking inmate in stiches laughing, obviously a new one on them. We bought sweets for the children and cigarettes for the inmates beforehand and handed these out to the ones that allowed you to photograph them. They all had their hands out for them as we walked around. The experience was somewhat enjoyable and very fulfilling to see the place in action. We spent 2 hours there and Id hate to be there any longer. As I sat in the Moroccan restaurant that night eating lovely food, I couldnt help thinking about all those young men with lost faces loitering around some of them with 1000 year sentences for drug offences. They will never know a normal life again.

18 Jan Quiet day today. Was raining most of the day and thankfully the hostel had internet and a good collection of DVDs. There was a Mexican night in the hostel and for E3.50 we had a great feed of tacos and salad. Afterwards, there was a quiz, which we came joint first and enjoyed a complimentary jug of beer.

19 Jan Up at 5.30am and were collected for our 3 day boat cruise to Rurrenbaque. We said our goodbyes to Caroline, who is flying to Peru to meet her mother. Our bus journey to the boat took 12 hours and had a few scheduled and unscheduled stops. The rainy season is in full swing in the rainforest areas and we came across 3 landslides, the first of which held us up for over an hour. We watched the rocks falling down and although most were small, they fell at such force that they would kill a person and severly damage a car if a direct hit were made. The other 2 were in the advanced stages of being cleared. At another point the road had been washed away and we were stopped for a while whilst the driver worked out how best to cross. I made a bridge out of a couple of logs and the driver had us all get off the bus and cross ourselves to lighten his load and maximise his chances of getting across. It worked and was great craic to watch. Due to all our delays, we missed out 5.30pm boat down the river to our campsite. We were put up in a (E2 p.n.) rural hotel for the night which was a dump. Liz had a nest of insects in her ceiling, another lad had a leak from his ceiling onto his bed and I discovered creepy crawlies on mine. I lit my mozzie coils and put them under my bed to kill the bugs before heading out for the evening. No sign of the little feckers when I came back.

20 Jan Up and out at 7am and onto our boat. It was a timber vessel about 30ft long, we had no life jackets and the river was running at full throttle with all the rain over the past 24 hours. We bobbed and weaved down the river avoiding swirls, logs and waves. After 1 stop in a tiny village for a toilet stop we got to Puerto Carmen for our overnight stop. This is a remote community of only 13 people and for a few bob, they allow us pitch our tents for the night, cook our food and do a couple of Jungle walks. After lunch we set off on our 3 hour Jungle trek. We saw different types of ants, trees, nests, medicinal and poisonous plants. At the half way point we went Piranha fishing with raw beef baited to our hooks. The guides helpers had to hack a passageway through the jungle with a machete knife to the waterside. With great excitement and anticipation we threw in our hooks, but to no avail. We caught nothing.
The Jungle is a complete bug infested place with all kinds of things landing on you, flying around you and wanting a free meal. Any standing around for a few seconds invites them to dinner and swatting and swishing becomes a full time job. That night we went back into the Jungle on a night walk to see noctural creatures and listen to the Jungle chorus at night. Didnt see much.

21 Jan Headed off downstream again to Mandiki national park. We went on another 3 hour jungle walk where we saw Mackaws (parrott like birds) & wild Turkeys, We also saw a few interesting plants and trees. After that we headed to Rurrenbaque, a nice small town where we checked into a nice hotel (E5pn) and had a good meal in a local restaurant.

Ballheaded through Bolivia

2009-01-15T22:42:00.002Z

09 Jan Left Topiza today by bus and drove along some more horrible roads. We came across a huge landslide and waited for over 30 mins as an earth mover made a channel through. Bolivain roads have to be amongst the worst in the world due to their terrible condition, tiny width, blind corners and the sheer unguarded drops down the side of mountains. We got to Potosi (the highest city in the world at 4060m above sea level) 7 hours later. We wrote down the address of the hostel (Hostel Koala) on a piece of paper and gave it to the taxi driver and asked him if he knew where it was, he said yes and we agreed the price and off we went. He hadnt a clue, asking loads of people along the way where the street was. I showed him the map of the town and where the hostel was but he still couldnt work it out. He kept driving around asking us if this was the street, and at that stage I reckoned he couldnt read. At one point in his frustration he stopped and said `here we are`. I said where? He pointed at a building and said `thats the hostel`. Well aware of their scams I told the others to stay put and I asked the driver to get out and show me, he refused. I then said `Hola amigo, No Koala....No dinero. Vamos!´ and off we went again. I pulled out the guidebook map again, found out where we were and directed him to the hostel. He wanted then to be paid for the extra time and mileage we caused him. I gave him an extra Boliviano (10c) and told him to go buy a map.

10 Jan We went on a tour to the local mines today. We were kitted out with overalls, boots, headlamp and helmet. We heard that in its 500 years of existence over 1 million people have died there mainly due to respiratory diseases. I had heard this sometime back in Chile and had marched the group into a pharmacy there to get surgical masks. Glad we did, all the others were dead jealous as the team from MASH paraded around with their brand new pale blue surgical wear. We were driven around to these shops to buy presents for the miners (Preferable to money) where we bought Coca leaves, Coca cola and best of all dynamite! Dead legal here and sold complete with fuses and Ammonium nitrate to make it more explosive. We then went to see the factory that processes the mined material and it was a noisy, smelly death trap. There were machines that went up and down, ones that went in and out, over and around and all the time hoping to catch an unsuspecting limb for dinner. Finally we got to go into the mines and walked down these tiny tunnels eventually crawling along in and out of different chambers. It was fascinating and horrifying to think that people had to work down here. There were kids as young as 8 years of age down there earning E2.50 per day. The average life span for a miner is just 45 years whilst wearing a breathing apparatus is considered weak and unmanly. The miners ignorance is so tragic especially as their young fathers are coughing to death and bed ridden at home in the 40´s and 50´s.

After the mine we were given a dynamite exhibition and were handed a stick of dynamite in a bag with the Ammonium nitrate wrapped around it topped off with a lighting fuse. 7 of us had 1 minute to take a photo each. It was like a game of pass the parcel and were done in jig time. When we were done we passed it to the guides assistant and he ran over to a hillside, threw it as far as he could and it blew up about 20 seconds later. Enough time for us to get our cameras out. Bizarre and hugely exciting stuff.

11 Jan Left Potosi today in the afternoon bound for a town called Sucre. Its the former capital of Bolivia so has some beautiful buildings and parks. We got a taxi there for E4 each and it was over 100 miles away. The taxi driver was a nutcase, so will probably go by bus in the future. Checked into our hostel and 8 of us went out to dinner. After that and a drink or two we decided it`d be a good laugh to got to the local Karaoke bar. After a bit of searching, located it, and went down the stairs and into the bar. It stank of vomit and was really wierd with people dancing to the karaoke music and nobody singing. We left and some wierdo started followng us so we went home.

12 Jan Up early this morning to go to this massage place. We were told it was only E2.50 per hour for this great massage but when 4 of us turned up, they could only take one at a time and was a physio clinic. It also turned out to be E12.50 per hour. Abandoning that plan, we went to this dinosaur place that had real dinosaur footprints etc. After that we went to see the `Quantum of Solice´ the new james Bond movie in the town centre. It was an ancient place with 1950`s cinema chairs. It was a good laugh as the cinematographer had to stop the movie to change the reel. The admission was 50cent each, I spent twice that on goodies.

13 Jan Booked our onward coach this morning to Cochacama for later on this evening. We booked `Full cama` ie a reclining chair/bed, but not all Bolivian buses are like the ones we were used to in Argentina. We boarded a banger. It had a bit of extra legroom and seat reclined way back. It was smelly and had no a/c. The lad in front of me put his chair so far back it looked like his head was lying on my lap. At 7pm, the driver turned out the lights and without reading lamps left us in the pitch dark. Lucky, I had my head torch. An hour later we joined a huge tail back on this mountain road. There had been a landslide and the road was blocked. Men with shovels cleared a track and after waiting 3 hours we made a difficult crossing through the debris, was well interesting too. As there is 5 in our group, someone has to sit on their own or beside a stranger. This time Frog got sitting beside this old woman dressed in typical Bolivian dress with a bowler hat, she smelled a bit and that night put on her big wooly hat before going to sleep on frogs shoulder. The wool was in his nose and irritated him all night. We were in convulsions of laughter.

14 Jan Still on the bus, we stopped in the middle of the night at this village for a toilet stop, but there were no toilets. Depending on gender and requirement everyone was standing or squatting pissing and shitting everywhere. After performing the former myself i watched a river of urine flowing down the hill toward the bus. The stench was awful and Im sure the villagers were none too impressed later that morning. At the bus, I observed the driver pissing on the front wheel and due to the heat of the wheels, plumes of pissy steam were rising above him. Classy.
We arrived in Cochacamba at 7am and hoped to do a tour of the local Toro Toro National Park, after consulting with an agency that did the tours we decided not to do it as the stuff on the tour was very similar to what we`ve done before. A group decision was made and we decided to get a bus out of there and onto the capital, La Paz later that morning. 7 hours later we arived into the outskirts, and introduced ourselves to the congested, horn honking, low rise city that appeared dirty and unkept. Hi ace vans, trucks and buses whizzed about. We saw an artic truck with an animal trailer in tow full of people and the sign on the side read `Max 400 personas`. I saw an old lady (easily 80) climbing down the side of a truck. I thought as we passed by in our new Mercedes bus, how lucky we are.

15 Jan had a good luck around the centre of La Paz today. Its a hussle and bussle place but with good energy. We booked our mountain Bike trip down the `Worlds most dangerous road` a 64km down hill bike ride on notorius Bolivian mountain roads. Its not however as dangerous as it used to be as the road has now been bypassed and is free of any heavy traffic. Tomorrow will tell the tale. We had a look around the markets and ate some great food.

Chile to Bolivia through the saline Abyss

2009-01-10T22:04:00.011Z

03 Jan Up at 7am to catch our 3 day 4WD tour across the Bolivian desert and through the Salt flats to Uyuni in Bolivia. On our way out of Chile we needed to pass through customs but Fiachra lost his entry documentation he recieved when he entered Chile a couple of weeks ago. He got a new form and filled it in with customs officials signatures and all (copied from mine) He argued that they forgot to stamp it and with a bit of babble between our driver and officials he was allowed through. The poor lad following after him had a bend in his passport and was refused entry. The journey was across the most hostile of deserts and over rocks of all sizes. En route we reached 5000m above sea level, visited hot springs, Turquoise lakes & bubbling mud. We are a group of 5 (Me, Frog, Caroline, Ben & Liz) and in a jeep with Bolivian driver all to ourselves for E65 each including meals and accommodation. Was good value, but it all comes at a price as our first nights accommodation was discusting. My pink faded, threadbare Bart Simpson bedsheets didnt look like they were washed in weeks, my pillow was about as comfortable and as heavy as a bag of onions. There were no showers, sinks were blocked and the toilets smelled of piss and shite. It gets worse. The beds sagged so much, Ben put his mattress on the floor and in doing so moved my shoes. That night I woke to go to the toilet and couldnt find them in the dark so went to the bathroom (Electricity is turned off at night) with only my socks on. Some lad previous couldnt find the toilet in the dark and settled for the bathroom floor. I walked in, looking for the urinal and stood in his piss. As I had to go anyway, I remained in that spot for a minute or two longer. So, Pissy feet here had then had the task of walking back to the room with no option of cleaning them in the blocked sinks and get back into bed with the smell of another lads piss on my feet.

04 Jan Had breakfast at 7am consisting of herbal tea and ice cold bread. We were told off bysome auld Bolivian cow for taking coffee from another groups table, as i heaped the coffee in my mug I explained, in lenghty detail, to her that I i didnt understand her and hadnt a word of Spanish. Later that morning we stopped at this rock known as `Tree rock´. It is a famous rock as it was painted by a well known artist, Salvador Dali. Frog did his customary nude pose at great haste due to an arriving 4WD laden with snap happy tourists. We stopped at other sights including rock formations like the `Bungle Bungles´ in Western Australia, laked with Flamingoes, an active volcano with smoke billowing out of it and crossed a mini Salt flat. We arrived that afternoon into a small dusty town called `San Juan´. Our accommodation there was a dump too but not as bad as the previous night. Our trip stated we would be staying at the Salt Hotel, A hotel make from Salt. We were informed that it was rainy season and it was flooded so this alternative accommodation ws provided. It turned out to be bullshit and was a convienient way for the company to make extra money by giving us cheaper accommodation. Theiving gypsies.

Later that day we checked out the town and went to the cemetery to see the open dome tombs. The tombs had skeletons in them on full display with clothes on, and with pots around them. Although we had no explanation as to the background of the place, the bodies seemed to be in a huddled position indicating that they were buried alive. On our way out of the place a woman was waiting for us. She wanted the 50 cent payment each for our visit which was Ok as there was a sign on our way in with the price but nobody collecting. We didnt have any small money and she had no change, we then had to parade all around town with this woman trying to get scare change from the shops.

05 Jan Up and out at 6am with the usual slice of bread and a cup of tea for breakfast whilst smelling the aroma of fried bacon destined for our drivers belly. We kindly helped the driver pack his roofrack with lots of lifting etc. only to experience the height of ignorance from him. He was getting frustrated with having to depart later than he intended and started to reverse the jeep while I was getting in and frog was standing on the back wheel tie-ing down his roofrack! What a prick. The fat c**t did his own packing after that. We drove to the Salt flats (12,500 sqkm) the largest in the world, it ws rainy season and a lot of it was under water. The jeep followed the submerged road and as we were driving along it felt like we were in a boat. The first day of the trip I asked the driver if I could drive the jeep and he gabbled some reply. I didnt pursue the issue but he then today he offered me the opportunity to drive on the flats. I didnt kow if he was being nice or didnt like driving on the flats but I jumped at the chance. The driving was really wierd. The flats were a brilliant white and the sky was pure blue and that was all I could see. The jeep (a petrol 4 litre Toyota landcruiser) was 28 years old, the driver reckoned it had over 1.5 million kms up on it, and nothing worked (including the brakes) so I couldnt even guess how fast or slow I was going. I started feeling hypnotised and blinded by the glare even though I had my sunglasses on, hat on and was squinting my eyes. An hour later we spotted a elevated spot which was above water and we stopped there for some photos. Later we stopped at the Salt hotel, that wasnt flooded, for a look and then on to a Salt factory to see how the stuff was made. On then to another (less exciting) train cemetery and then on to Uyuni to end our trip. Uyuni was a crappy town so we hopped on a bus south to Tupiza. The roads were incredibly bad with no Tarmac, no safety barriers stopping out of control vechicles careering over the edge and down the mountain side. Its a wild place and feels like a scene from the wild west. In fact the movie and the real life characters from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid were played out in this area.

6 Jan Was a quiet day today, did internet stuff, Frog had his hair cut a little shorter by Caroline and we booked our 2 day horse trek.

7 Jan Frog and Liz caught a 24 hr bug and could not make the horse riding. Ben decided to opt out too and stay withLiz so it was just me and Caroline. Although conscious of my allergy to animal hair, I mounted my nag, aka Geronimo, and headed off into the desert. We saw stunning rock formations, rode along quiet tracks, through fast flowing rivers up to our knees, plodded through mud and galloped aswell. i felt like I was a cowboy with my cowboy hat and leather leg protectors. We got to our hostel that evening and joined a few other similar groups. After a walk around town, some local kids were playing soccer. The gringoes vs the locals game progessed quickly and we had a blast, the kids were great but were no match for our foul play and dirty tricks.

8 Jan Didnt sleep at all well last night due to swarms of flies, unventilated room (with 8 of us in it), a sleep talker and a snorer. The bed was shite too, and noise continued outside for all hours. Up then at 7.30am for a breakfast of crackers and jam before mounting up on our horses again. My arse bones, tail bone and my knees were killing me. we went a bit slower today which was a welcome relief. During lunch on the way back we met Frog, Ben and Liz on their way as part of their one day trek. Saw a few interesting things on the way back including gorges, canyons and a waterfall, but to be quiet honest I was in too much pain to care.

Santiago and the North

2009-01-02T20:23:00.002Z

27 Dec Up early this morning as we were being collected at 9am to go on our tour of North Chile. We had laundry left with reception and were due to get it back by 8am. When asked for it at 8, they said they had forgotten to do it but would be ready by 9am, it wasnt. Put into plastic bags soaking wet we got on our tour bus. Frog got out his washing line and we set up a big drying operation around the bus much to the entertainment of the other passengers at the sight of Jocks and knickers blowing around in the wind.
We stopped for lunch at a small seaside town called ´Pichidangui´, the driver had organised a restaurant for us which was overpriced and had a crap menu. Me, Frog and Caroline decided not to eat and look elsewhere, followed by everyone else. The look on the driver and Guides face was priceless. I guess they didnt get their free dinners. We arrived in ´La Serena´ later that day for our first overnight stop.

28 Dec Stopped off at a place called ´Punta de Choros´ where we went for a boat ride around these islands where we saw dolphins, sea otters and lions and a few other species of birds. To be quite honest I was bored as we had seen it all before and got my knees sunburnt for good measure. Later in the day we went to ´Bahia Inglesa´ , a beach resort where our accommodation was an ´A´ frame bungalow, shared between 5 of us.

29 Dec Today was a free day to relax on the beach. In the afternoon we were brought into town for a couple of hours, and when asked what there was to do, the guide said ´Nothing´. Hmmm. That night the whole group had a BBQ and Fiachra did his trademark nude shot in the drivers seat of the bus much to the delight of the group.

30 Dec Had a long day in the bus today, we stopped for a few photos along the way including the ´Hand in the sand´ a huge sand 10 metre hand carved out of rock. This sculpture was commissioned to signify a greeting and a farewell to all crossers of the Atacama dessert. Futher along we stopped at a cemetry for workers that died in the local nickel mines. It is no longer in use but the shallow graves and the dessert wind often uncover the bodies below. There was this one body that was partially decomposed and still had its ear. We had to peer in though the makeshift coffin to see it but Frog decided to lift the lid off it to get a proper look and propped it open with a big stick. He´s going straight to hell but we got a few good photos. Another stop had this armchair in the middle of the dessert which is popular for funny dessert shots (lacking in any culture or history methinks) but enjoyed it nonetheless. Frog did his usual nude and enjoyed the notoriety and paparazzi that went with it. ´We stopped at ´Angofasta´ that night.

31 Dec Today we went to a train cemetry in a place called ´Baquedano´. The old steam trains there were used to transport the minerals from the mines over 50 years ago and are still in the same condition due to the very low humidity in the dessert. We had a good laugh climbing all over them incl getting into the boiler at the front. Fiachra did a nudie aswell hiding his locomotive and carraiges behind the train chimney. We were travelling along the tropic of Capricorn and was very hot and dry (c.35C). We visited salt flats and went to an oasis village (never been to an Oasis before) where there were very welcome natural pools that we swam in. The day was a bit overshadowed by the fact that one of the lads on our group had his camera stolen by local kids. The guy was very upset as he had months of memories on his memory card. We went to see flamingoes feeding nearby and when we arrived there were 6 military personnel there and 2 army vehicles. Unusual we thought, but afterwards we were told that we had been mingling with a scarfed Princess Caroline of Monaco.
We got to our nightly stop at San Pedro De Atacama and had to cook as all restaurants were full for New Years eve. We headed out on the town and the place was alive with people, music and these stuffed human like figures (effidgies) sitting on chairs. We didnt know what they were but they were all doused in petrol and lit at midnight. Everyone cheered, was interesting but wondered were they always effidgies when that custom started. We ended up at a house party in a house rented by 3 Cork Girls.

01 Jan Got home at 3am but some of the others didnt get back until 8am. Later in the day we had a look around town before heading off on short trip to ´Moon Valley´ to explore some salt Caves and look at the amazing mountians and valleys consisting entirely of salt. Then we climbed up this big sand dune and watched the first sunset of 2009.
That evening we went out for dinner and I asked the waitress for ´el tabla para tres por favor´ she burst out laughing and showed us to our table. I later found out that rather than asking for a table for three please, I had asked for a surfboard for 3. It got a great laugh.

02 Jan Booked our 3 day tour from San pedro to Bolivia across the Bolivian salt flats. Hung around on the internet, did laundry and ate.

Santaigo and the South

2008-12-31T02:08:00.002Z

18 Dec Got collected this morning to go on our 7 day tour of South (of Santiago) Chile. The tour group, of around 14 including 4 Irish, seem like a nice crowd. Today we went to a little town called Pomaire ´Village of the Indians´ for breakfast and a look around at their craft shops. After that we continued down to see the Rapel dam which provides 25% of Chiles power. It was interesting to see but we have seen better. Our final stop for the day was to a little seaside town called ´Pichilemu´. We had a look around the town and then of that evening to ´Punta de Lobos´ to watch the sunset over the Pacific.

19 Dec After a desperate nights sleep on possibly the worst bed I have ever had the misfortune to rest my royal behind on we headed to a town called ´Santa Cruz´ to see an amazing museum. Its is Chiles largest privately owned museum. It has a huge collection of artifacts, cars, carriages, farm machinery, first printing presses and heaps of stuff from throughout Chiles history, very interesting. At the end of the day we arrived in a town called ´Pucon´. It’s a lovely skiing village, out of season for us, that has lots of adventure sports. We booked the volcano walk, for the 21st, and got measured up for all our necessary equipment. We all went out for dinner that night and had great auld craic getting to know the other travellers in our group J.

20 Dec Me and Frog went mountain biking this morning. Thought it would be the same as before but when I saw the bikes we were going to be using, I thought I was in over my head. They were $2000 machines and built for serious downhill stuff. We were kitted out like 2 robocops and after a 30 min 4WD trip up the side of a mountain we began our descent. It was crazy stuff and we were flying it, thru quarrys, over rock beds, through forest, water, tree trunks, ramps and water swamped woodland walkways. We were head to toe in muck and had mud in our eyes and everything. I couldn’t believe how capable of abuse these bikes were, still frog managed to break his chain. Later that night we went to the local hot springs for a late night dip in lovely hot water whilst it was really cold outside and lashing rain. It was a lovely experience. The tour organisers had beer and wine for us to drink while bathing under the stars. We sang on the bus all the way home (45mins) to Irish and German music.

21 Dec Today at 7am we were piled on the bus for our trip to a nearby volcano. It was a hard going 5 hour snow hike to the top carrying a backpack full of all the necessary equipment. At the half way point, exhausted and aching from a pulled thigh muscle from the mountain biking, I let out a wry smile when the group leaders said that weather conditions were too dangerous to go any further. Oh well, what a pity ;-) late that afternoon we were on the bus again for a tour of the lakes in the area, and along a small gravel road we got a puncture. It was nice to sit and watch the lakes and smouldering volcano in the background.

22 Dec Today we went to Puerto Montt, our southern most point of our journey. It was a small town with lots of crafts etc but was a bit of a dump. We stayed there for lunch and had a look around the markets. The good thing about a tour is they have a fair idea how long people want in a certain place. Had we done it independently we would have probably checked in for 2 nights. We then headed North to a town called Valdivia which has a strong German influence and had a look around and had some dinner.

23 Dec We took a 200km ride along the Pan American highway (runs almost uninterrupted from Alaska to the South of Chile) to a nice German town called ´Puerto Varres´ which had amaing views of the Osorno Volcano. That evening we arrived in Saltos del Lava to see the waterfall, although the waterfall was interesting, most attention was paid to Frogs nude pose.

24 Dec Hard to imagine that it´s Christmas eve. The weather is in the high 20´s and although there are a few Christmas trees and dicky didos about, people seem to be going about their normal daily lives. I think I´ll miss midnight mass in Bearna and the Ham and brown bread feast (with grainy mustard and lots of Tea) afterwards with the neighbours most. Later in the morning we went to a vineyard called Vina Baldazzi. We tasted some wine and bought a couple of bottles for our Christmas dinner and a good one for Maria Jesus and her family. While we were having lunch we got a call from the hostel saying that our booking for the 3 days over the Christmas would not be honoured as they were overbooked. We were very annoyed but they found us another place to stay not too far away, which was OK.

25 Dec Up this morning and went to the Santaigo Cathedral with Caroline for a sample of Christmas in Chile. The mass that was on was a little chapel in the cathedral but were told that a bigger one was on at 12 midday. Back to the cathedral at 12 with our 2 Mexican friends and the Cathedral was alive with TV crews, huge choir and lots of musicians. The acoustics in the Cathedral added to it all and was very impressive. Constantly resisting any religious influence on this day, Frog was spotted sitting at the back of the church enjoying the fuss.
That afternoon we went up to Cerro San Cristobal, a hill overlooking Santiago, for a day out. On the way up the hill on the electric train Frog got told off by the conductor for interfering with the electrics, he had some reason I can´t remember for doing what he did but it was funny making faces at him behind the conductors back. On top of the hill they had a crib with life size figures carved from solid wood including cows and shepards etc. It was a holy place with a big Mary on the hill top with her arms out like the Jesus on the hill top in Rio de Janeiro. We went down the other side in a cable car.
That night we went to our previously intended hostel for a Christmas party and had a good night drinking, singing, dancing and playing table tennis, strange I know.

26 Dec Fell in the door at 2.30am and up again at 8.30am to go with Maria Jesus to a town 160km away called Valaparaiso. It is a nice city if not a bit higgledy piggeldy and the obvious absence of any organised planning. There are houses painted all kinds of colours which adds to the place. We continued down the coast to the nearby holiday resort called Vina Del Mar and had a nice Mexican lunch and walked along the strand. After a few hours there we headed back to Santiago and to her house for a drink and a chat with her Dad and sister before heading back to the hostel for our final night in Santaigo.

Argentina and back to Chile

2008-12-18T20:34:00.002Z

11th and 12th Dec Hung around Ushuaia and managed to sell my yellow Antarctica Jacket to a lad in the hostel. I got E25 for it which was ok considering it cost E50 to sent it home.

13th Dec Got on a flight to Buenos Aires today and checked into the same hostel as before. An American lad that was staying in our room the last time was working there when we arrived. It worked out well as Beaver man was with us and he had no reservation, he was let sleep on the couch.

14th Dec Caught the local bus today to a place called 'La Boca'. Its a deprived and football mad neighbourhood that once had a local lad called Diego Maradonna play for their team, Boca Juniors. I was surprised how pleasant and hip the place was with beautiful coloured buildings, street performers etc. Thre was a big game on that day, Boca Juniors Vs Colon, and there was a great atmosphere around the place with singing and chanting Boca supporters

15th Dec Today we went to the International Post office to post Fiachras Antarctica jacket home. That was a big job in itself as in Argentina they have 3 different people in 3 different depts doing the job of one person at home. With that done we went back to the hostel to pack up and get the 22hour night bus to Santiago in Chile. The bus was a really nice 2 story first class bus with big wide reclinable seats. I started a new book I got free in the hostel. Its an autobiography of Madeline Albright, the former secretary of state to Bill Clinton. Its quiet interesting, I'll keep you posted. With the book, a couple of DVDs and plenty of sleep the hours passed easy enough.

16th Dec The following day the worst was over after the Arg \ Chilean border which operated with the ultimate in unefficiency or lack of common sence. It was real cattle herding stuff with all of the bus passengers lined up like a suspect line up and had dogs sniffing us. To cross from Arg into Chile meant driving through the Andes which was very scenic and impressive. On arrival in Santaigo we got a taxi to the hostel and within a couple of hours my freind Maria met us and we went out for dinner and a few drinks. It was great to meet her again as we had been good freinds throughout our travels through Laos and Thailand. Later in the evening we went to a presentation in the hostel from a tour company that do trips around Chile.

17th Dec This morning we went and booked our trip around the South of Chile. Later we met Maria again and she brought us for a drive out into the country to see a lovely national park called Santamarino de la Naturaleza and the Casada de las Animas (Waterfall of the Spirits). After a hike in the hot sun we went for a lovely cool dip in the waterfall. It was cold but felt fabulous afterwards (must have been the Spirits!) After a great lunch we went to meet Marias family and her parents had a great BBQ ready for us with a Christmas tree and lights etc. all set up outside. It was a great occaision with freinds and family calling around to say hello and were so freindly and accommodating. I got my new visa card from Maria today (It was posted to her) and was a very welcome relief to get it.

Earths end to antartica

2008-12-11T11:35:00.001Z

27 Nov Familiarised ourselves with Ushuaia today and even celebrated Thanks-giving with 2 Alaskans. We visited the Quark offices (our Antarctic Expedition Company) and finalised our paperwork.

28 Nov Quiet day today, got our sea sickness tablets and hung around drinking coffee and watching the world go by.

29 Nov went to the local national park and did an 8km lake walk. That night we met up with our 2 Dutch lady friends, Rose and Stephanie in the Galway Irish bar and then on to the Dublin Irish bar.

30 Nov Checked out of our hostel and moved up the hill to the 4 star los Acebos hotel. This was part of our Antarctic trip where we were briefed, assembled and collected. We met most of our group and although they are mostly older than us, 45 – 60 is the most common age group, they seem to be a nice group.
The hotel is lovely and is fantastic luxury after 6 months of hostels and guesthouses with cable TV, power shower & with a comfy double bed to myself. Our room overlooked Ushuaia and the Beagle channel but the little things like fast internet, hearty breakfast and comfortable lounge chairs were so welcome. The quoted price for this place was $200 US per night! Don’t think I would stay again if I had to pay that.

01 Dec After a delayed checkout (we decided to sleep on and watch another movie) much to the delight of the hotel, we went into town and collected some thermal gear from the hire shop, bought a bottle of Jim Beam (for the cold Antarctic nights)and headed for M.V. Ocean Nova. It’s a small cruise ship at 72.8 metres in length and has 45 double cabins, It was certainly better than I expected. We got a 4 berth ensuite cabin to ourselves which was handy for putting our gear and stuff onto the extra beds. The staff seemed nice and helpful and the food was great too. We were all given sea sickness tablets as we were going to be entering the Drake Passage that night. The Drake Passage is around Cape Horn, the most southerly tip of the Americas….one of the roughest seas in the world.

02 Dec Zonked out on sea sickness tablets, every opportunity to sleep was taken. I had a fabulous buffet breakfast with my first feed of eggs and bacon in an age. There were lectures given throughout the day on Whales, digital photography, birds etc. I either didn’t go to them or slept through them while I was there. Our first glimpse of Antarctic wildlife was the occasional passing Whale and Albatross. The Drake Passage, according to the staff, is behaving itself but walking around is akin to being completely drunk in body and totally sober in mind. An older lady was sitting to lunch today and completely fell over with all the swaying from side to side. The look of horror on people’s faces when you are walking around with a boiling hot tea is hilarious.

03 Dec Our second full day at sea was similar to the first, I spent most of my time eating and sleeping. Towards the end of the day we reached the outer limits of Antarctica when we crossed through the South Shetland Islands (between Robert and Nelson Islands). After this point we saw our first iceberg. It was a big white Gorilla of a yolk and must have had a surface area of about 15 acres. After the South Shetlands we left the notorious Drake Passage and into the Bransfield Strait. The weather was worse here than the Drake, I was sitting down to lunch today and the swaying back and forth caused a leg of my chair to break. I didn’t collapse with it, but all around me there were plates, glasses and cutlery were chinking and falling. Even in bed I was sliding up and down banging my head off one end, scrunching my legs off the other and ‘up and down like a fiddlers elbow’ as my father used to say.

Later in the day we were summoned to the 2nd floor for boot fitting in preparation for our first landing tomorrow. It must have been hell for the early explorers having to contend with the cold, wet and the high seas… lack of fresh food and water compared to 100 years later as I sit and write in comfort at my cabin desk with a full belly, hot radiator at my feet and the only decisions I need to make is whether I will have a peppermint tea and go to bed or head up to the bar for a Jim Beam and Coke.

04 Dec Peering out of my cabin window this morning at 4am (now in the 24hr daylight zone) I watched a big iceberg pass by. It was windy, choppy and cold…..A beautiful summer’s day in Antarctica. By 8am we were dressed, ready and waiting to board the Zodiacs (French made, highly durable inflatable speedboats) to go ashore to Brown Bluff. It was cancelled at the last minute due to safety concerns and not helped by the fact that one of the staff dropped $4000 worth of camera equipment into the water on attempting to find a suitable landing site. It was decided that we would travel to a more sheltered spot further south. On our way we encountered an ice field and the captain decided to go through it. Our vessel ‘Ocean Nova’ has a double hull and is capable of light ice breaking. It was fantastic watching the ship go through the ice and crack it all up. It felt like something out of a Shackelton book as the boat twisted and turned looking for the easiest passage through. At some points we would stop with a huge thud, as a particular piece of ice didn’t break and we would reverse up and try another spot. At the back (I was running between the two) of the boat the ice was closing and freezing over about 20 metres behind us, I was ecstatic.
Eventually we got to Paulett Island, a penguin colony of 200,000 Adeile penguins. The island is a dormant volcano and we walked around the crater, which is now a lake, and over to the beach on the other side. It was nesting season and the females were sitting on their nests. Their mates were busy collecting stones and building a wall around the female as a wind break for the egg. It was so funny watching them steal stones from each other and they spent their days essentially moving stones around the dozen or so nests in their group. The juvenile penguins were not nesting or mating and had nothing much to do, so they would all walk around behind, alongside and in front of us wherever we went flapping their wings… so interested, happy and without any fear as they have no natural predators ( on land ) and don’t know danger. There were a few seals on the island too but not as interesting as the penguins.
Paulett island was where Nordenskjold (a famous early 1900’s Swedish explorer) expedition went wrong and they were stuck there for a year before rescue. We saw their little 2 room hut (minus the roof) where 29 crew members lived enduring incredible hardship and on a 12 month diet of penguin and seal. We got back to the boat and had a few whiskey and cokes with Johannes and Joerg (an Austrian lad and a mad 70 yr old German man). Johannes became known as ‘Beaver man’ owing to his fur hat that wrapped around his ears and we called 70 year old Joerg ‘ Uncle Albert’ due to his uncanny likeness to the character of the same name in ‘Only fools and horses’. We got Uncle Albert pissed and all this before dinner. Towards the end of a highly entertaining dinner, Orca whales (Killer whales) were spotted and we were treated to a family of 30 – 40 whales. They were apparently teaching their young to hunt and were tossing a penguin up in the air and at one stage it was thrown up in the air and bounced of the side of the ship. It was a bad day for the penguin but a fascinating whale watch. He was eaten within minutes and Antarctic hawks polished off the few remains on the water surface in no time.

05 Dec Our first port of call this morning was to Mikkleson harbour, a small island off the mainland. There is an Argentinean survival hut here if you get stranded but was in bad condition. The island was a whaling station and there are huge whale bones scattered around on the beaches. There were large colonies of Gentoo penguins and were quick to use all the creature comforts left behind as nesting sites including barrels, blocks, sheds etc. That afternoon we went to Cierva Cove where the first Antarctic landing took place in 1821. There is another Argentinean research base there but we weren’t allowed near it. The cove is particularly interesting as it attracts icebergs due its deep entry and traps them due to it shallow interior. Also known as Iceberg cemetery, we zodiac’d through some of them and marvelled at the endless sizes, shapes, features and colours.

06 Dec Up at 5am today (and sparing a thought for my sister Orna’s 40th birthday) to climb Spigot peak. We went ashore to the hillside and began our climb. The snow was so soft we were wading knee deep at times which was quiet energy consuming. At the top of the hill the views were amazing with endless Bays, Icebergs, snow capped mountain Peaks and chin strapped Penguins. Back to the boat for breakfast and an announcement was made that an adventure cruise ship (the ‘Ushuaia’ a similar vessel to ours) has run aground nearby and we were going there to see if we could be of any assistance. By the time we got there most of the crew, and all of the passengers, had been evacuated. The captain met with the expedition leader and we were told we may be required to tow the ‘Ushuaia’ off the rocks. The Chilean Navy wouldn’t do it because of oil spill implications and the company needed to get free before the waves broke up the ship. We didn’t get the necessary clearance to help the ‘Ushuaia’ but since heard that the Chilean navy helped them once all fuel was removed or burned off. We heard that the New York Times had run a story of a big spill and oil covered Penguins but this was not so.
Early afternoon we reached Danco Island, named after a Belgian Geo-Physicist who died here in 1897. Here we did a bigger climb and saw more Penguins and amazing views. In the late afternoon we went out again to a place called ‘Paradise bay’. Named by Whalers, its not quiet paradise but for them it was sheltered and easy to get in and out of. We did a small cruise in the zodiacs to see some more ice formations and wildlife etc. We stopped off at a place called ‘Almirante Brown’ an Argentinean Naval base, which was unoccupied at the time, and were told of the story about the base doctor who was put there for a year as part of his national service. At the end of the year he was told that he would have to stay another year as no replacement could be found. Cracking up he decided there would be no need for a base doctor if the base didn’t exist so he burned it down. Clever fellow. The story goes that he was taken from the island but did some jail/mental institute time afterwards.

07 Dec Did 2 landings today, the first onto the mainland to a place called Neko harbour for more views and penguins. We climbed another hill for a view and whilst we were up there an avalanche started on a mountain across the bay. It was amazing to watch and the dust clouds were 100 times the size of our ship. Later on we went to an island called ‘Useful Island’. The views were incredible, but the winds started to pick up so we decided to head back to ship. The zodiac trip from shore to ship was rough with big waves, great craic.

08 Dec Our last day at Antarctica before our 3 day voyage back to Ushuaia, Argentina. We made 2 landings again today, the first to ‘Deception Island’ so named as it has an appearance of a regular island but it has the shape of a ring donut with a small bite out of it. This enables ships to enter the centre of the island and get shelter from the high seas. The island was created by a huge volcanic eruption which spewed out 330 sq km of rock on that occasion. There are a few more volcano stacks on the island so we went for a hike around the island to look at them. Before we left the island we had an opportunity to do our Polar plunge. With an air temp of -10 degrees Celsius and a water temp of +1 degree Celsius it was going to be cold. So without further ado we stripped down to our swimming togs and ran in. To complete the Polar plunge challenge you must completely submerse yourself in the water, do 2 swim strokes and not leave the water for 10 seconds. Having met the task we roared with a mix of pain and exhilaration and ran out of the water like two bullets on caffeine to a cheering crowd. Joerg, our 70 yr old German friend went in twice. Mad as a hatter he is.
That afternoon we went to Barrientos Island and saw more penguins and seals but the rock formations took my breath away. As I came over the hill and saw what was on the other side I thought instantly of the Jules Verne book ‘A Journey to the centre of the Earth’ Volcanic plug stacks, Rock sea castles, sickle shaped bays and inlets, seals, whale bones and penguins. It was incredible and all capped off by Fiachra’s (my brother) trademark nude photograph with gaping penguins and fabulous snow clad mountain ranges providing the equally impressive backdrop.

09 Dec We are now fully underway on our non-stop 3 day sea voyage back to port. We are crossing the Drake Passage and the seas are much heavier than our crossing last week. The swells have been measured at over 10 metres (approx 30ft), winds reached 40 knots (45mph) and moving about the ship has become quite the bruising exercise. Last night I made myself a cup of peppermint tea before bed. Having taken 2 steps and losing all balance I ran across the Lounge floor sideways falling over 3 chairs and a table whilst covering everything in my path in boiling hot water. Thank God my path was clear of all valuables and humans.
During the day we were preparing our entries for the ships photo competition. Realising from the start that our hardware (i.e. Cameras) were not nearly as good as the bazooka type super cameras that other guests had we had to adopt the old Irish adage ‘Mun a bhfuileann tu laidir, caithiadh tu a bhfeidh glic’ (If your not big, you gotta be smart). So we concentrated on funny, unusual, tongue in cheek shots and a few of the expedition leaders (of course they are going to be the ones choosing).
Before I tell the next story, may I explain that on board you are not allowed drink your own alcohol in the Lounge area. Only alcohol bought in the ships Lounge bar may be consumed there. The Phillipino barman, Samuel, told us that there would be a $100 fine if we are caught with our own stuff. Of course we all laughed at this preposterous notion so every night we smuggled in the Jim Beam whiskey and ordered 2 glasses with lots of ice and 1 can of coke. He knew well what we were at but could never catch us in the act.

We tried to take a potentially legendry photo by ordering the usual coke and glasses at the bar with me posing for a photo with Samuel but at the same time an exposed bottle of Jim Beam sticking out of the back of my trousers (out of his view of course). The first photo failed as my jumper slipped over the bottle and covered it, I went back up to the bar with my Coke and glasses (essential to be in the photo) and told Samuel that the photo was blurred and could we take it again. He agreed and this time the bottle fell out and onto the ground with a big chink. Sam was behind the bar and I was in front of it so he couldn’t see it but he knew what it was. I stood in his way and kicked the bottle away and Fiachra picked it up before he could see it. Of course all the other guests (fellow smugglers) were either in on it or had watched the spectacle and were in bellows of laughter. All night he watched us like a hawk but we still got our whiskey into the glasses with helpful guests walking by and stopping at the right spot pretending to be admiring the view. It was a week long running joke as our group all drank Coke at night and were the most pissed at the end. He told us we were not allowed drink our alcohol but we told him we didn’t drink, It was like being back at school.

10 Dec Today is our last full day and finished our crossing of the Drake Passage and into the Beagle channel. We had a few lectures today about Antarctic related stuff and had the Captains dinner. After dinner we had the photo competition. A thousand photos were submitted and we got 10 of ours into a 170 photos shortlist, but no winners. Fiachras nude shot got a great reception when shown on the big screen but staff omitted it from being eligible for the competition.

Toward the end of the world

2008-11-28T00:00:00.002Z

20 Nov Quiet day today again, resting our aching joints from the previous days cycle. Trevor made us a fine farewell dinner, a big chicken and veg roast, washed down with lots of quality E2 wine before we caught our 11.50pm bus to El Califate.

21 Nov Our total journey time of 35 hours was a long one. The bus down south are of a less a standard than up north due to their remote location and poor quality roads. We stopped at a few places en route along an otherwise totally barren landscape. The road we took is called Ruta 40, a famous road from the north to the south. Its a legendery drive a bit like route 66 in the US. Most of it was unsealed, ie no tarmac, and made going very slow and rough. Fiachra had bought pirate copy DVDs in Paraguay and the driver let us play them. Rambo went 2/3rds of the way and stopped and Kung Fu Panda was in Chinese. We all had a laugh though as they were so bad.

22 Nov Arrived in El Califate this morning at 9.30am. We checked into a nice hostel and decided to go on an afternoon tour of a nearby glacier called Perito Moreno. One would think we were mad to go on a bus for another 5 hours, but what the hell...in for a penny, in for a pound. The Glacier was huge, 30km long, 5km wide and 60m high. We took a boat ride to the face of the glacier and then the bus took us up to the side of it with a great view. We got some great photos including Fiachras trade mark practically naked pose, in the freezing cold, with one of nature greatest creations in full view (although our opinions differed on what exactly that was). He was the toast of a whole heap of weather clad tourists switching their cameras to him rather than the brilliant white monolith behind him (mind you, his white arse would give it a run for its money). There were 2 English lads and a yank decided to do the same and were posing as a gaggle of schoolkids arrived. We choked laughing as their screams rang out and we decided to disappear to the warm nearby cafe before the police arrived. The lads dressed quicker than a slapper in Afghanistan.

23 Nov We woke this morning to discover Cristina was gone. Her bed was cold and she was nowhere to be seen. After breakfast she turned up and said she left in the middle of the night as she was being bitten and was covered in lumps. She complained to reception and they said that occaisionally their dog slept in that bed. This is one hot headed Italian and she lost it, they ended up putting her on a mattress in the lounge and then tried to charge her for the night. She swore blind at them in Italian and told them to F. off and call the police if they wanted her money. They let her off, so I went up and said I was bitten too. They wanted me to show them my bites, but after a weak display of a few old mosquito bites, my request was declined. Shite, Got a great laugh from the others though.
Later that day we got a bus to El Chalten. Id love to say I liked the place but it was a human blight on an otherwise beautiful landscape... cheap housing, caravans, dusty roads, gaping holes in ground that one could fall into... the list goes on. The town was in a valley and the wind would roar through the place blowing everything everywhere and was balticly cold, twud blow the Knickers off a nun. Prices were extorsionate, the local dogs wouldnt eat the food in the cafes and the local beer was piss. Anyway we were there for the hikes in the local area and suppose I should be glad of any services at all.

24 Nov We got up early and prepared for our 8 hour hike to Laguna del los tres and view Cerro Fitzroy, an amazing mountain top that rose vertically (a bit like a cliff face). We walked up the mountain side on our 18km walk and saw amazing views of the surrounding area. The weather is reknowned for its changability and I was taking layers off and back on again, up with the hood and on with hat and back off again. You get the picture. We finally reached the ascent area and were told there was no point as it was a white-out up there. We had lunch and got talking to a couple who are on our Antartica trip. Small world.

25 Nov Wanted to take the 1.30pm bus today back to El Califate to get a connecting bus to Rio Gallegos, but it was full. This was part of journey to the worlds most southerly town so ended up having to wait for the 6.30pm bus. After 8 hours hanging around after checking out of the hostel we got the bus and arrived in El Califate at 10pm. We had to hang around then for the 4am bus to Rio Gallegos.

26 Nov We decided not to go to the hassle of checking into a hostel only to leave at 2.30am so that we were at the bus station at 3am to buy tickets for the 4am bus. We ended up sleeping on the bus station floor, like tramps, for a few hours which was new but kind of cool too. Got on the bus and slept all the way to RG. Got to RG and after a coffee and croissants breakfast we got onto the bus to Ushuaia (the most southerly town in the world). After 5 hours and 2 police checkpoints, into Chilean territory and out of Chile back into Argentina, 2 sets of immigration for both countries and endless queing we reached the Straits of Majellan. This notorious strech of water (2km wide) seperates Tierra Del Fuego, the most southerly Argentinian landmass, from the mainland. The currents in the water were swirling around like an emptying bath. Our ferry was a modern yolk with powerful side thrusters keeping us in place.
Between waiting and travelling on buses we were on the go for 40 hours by the time we reached Ushuaia. It is a desolate location and nothing to look at but endless plains with freezing cold wind that kills everything.

Tis getting cold going South

2008-11-20T19:07:00.003Z

12 Nov Fiachras freind Trevor arrived this morning and we booked our bus tickets south to the town of Bariloche. Didnt do much else today other than relax in the sun and eat great food.

13 Nov Walked around Mendozas park today which was nice. I looked at their newly built University which was clad almost entirely in mirrored glass. Sitting across the road in a cafe drinking a coffee and looking at it I could hardly see it as it reflected all the trees around it. Fantastic modern architecture methinks. That evening we left for Bariloche, the bus broke down on the way and we were stuck for an hour in some bus station somewhere.

14 Nov Our, due to arrive, 1.30pm bus arrived in Bariloche at 4.30pm. Bariloche seems like a nice town, it is famous for its Swiss heritage, skiing and its chocolate. I am looking forward to exploring it and its environs. Checked into a hostel called '1004'. Its a 10th floor double penthouse apartment and has amazing views over the lake and the town.

15 Nov Walked around town today and saw the Cathedral & chocolate shops. Its a pricey place so we cooked a big casserole in the hostel and bought a few bottles of good wine (E3 per bottle). The hostel were having a wine tasting party that night and to get in you must bring a bottle per person over E3.50 per bottle. We had drank all our good stuff so we filled our expensive bottles with the cheap stuff (80c per bottle)and in we went. We were sick laughing and the faces of disgust when somebody tasted our wine.

16 Nov Went on a 16km walk today. We thought it was going to be a nice scenic walk around the lake on trails etc but it ended up being on the side of a busy road, we were pissed off we didnt rent bikes instead. At the end of the walk we got the bus home. It was a 45 minute journey on twisty, turney, stop start roads. We put on our sunglasses and pretended we were asleep as older women and women with kids started giving us the `I need that seat more than you do look´,but we were fecked. Met Stephanie and Rose, our dutch freinds at the Irish bar tonight which was a good night (the rest of Nov 16 has been censored)

17 Nov Didnt do much today. Hung around town and as it was Trevors birthday, we were busy buying him a present and a cake. Had good celebrations in the hostel and they put up decorations and balloons for the occaision. Was a good night.

18 Nov After a restless night of complaints to security about noise from our room, the hostel were glad to see the back of us. Two dry arse Bask Spaniards girls took a dislike to our mild AM chorus of booze, birds and birthday celebrations and complained to security. Fiachra threw a few F's at them afterwards for not asking us to pipe down first and they started shouting at us and slamming doors etc. They were psychos.
Later that day we got the bus to a small town south called 'El Bolson'. Its a nice little place with a hippy past and a real chilled out atmosphere. Familiarised ourselves with our surroundings and took it easy.

19 Nov Cristina left us today to go back to Bariloche and we met another lad called Wesly. The 4 of us rented mountain bikes and cycled 36km to a lake called Lago Puelo. It was a lovely spot but the road to there was busy. Went to a microbrewery bar/restaurant that evening to have a taste of the beers and eat dinner. We ordered one of every beer they had and had our own little beer tasting. Was a good laugh.

We'll be comin' down the Andes...

2008-11-12T18:06:00.002Z

04 Nov Left Salta today bound for Cafyete, a small town further south and in the foothills of the Andes. Its a wine growing region and has a lovely climate. The bus trip took us through amazing scenery akin to something you might see in the Roadrunner cartoons. We checked into a nice hostel and had a look around the town.

05 Nov Rented a couple of bikes and decided to do a mini triathlon of sorts. It involved cycling to this place along a dirt road and then walking for 2 hours along a riverbed to a waterfall, swim for a bit and then back home. We got to the end of our cycle and started heading along the river bed. We were following these arrows and it turned out to be the wrong way. We weren't the only ones to go astray. We met Juliana, an Argentinian girl coming the opposite way and she told us that she met a couple of local boys who said she needed to go back. We joined forces, found the right way and started heading up the right riverbed. The river walk was very lush with lovely pools, small waterfalls and cacti. The walking involved climbing rocks and all kinds of obstacles. It started to get more difficult as we got close to the final waterfall. We were climbing this steep ridge and I looked back for Juliana. I saw her slipping and she fell about 10 metres, bouncing off rocks and ledges like a rag doll. I shouted for Fiachra, just up ahead, and we jumped down after her. I was sure she was dead. She was miracously on her feet saved by her squashed backpack and the final land was into a small pool of deep water. Her head was split open and blood was pouring down her face. She could hardly walk with the pain in her back and was white as a ghost. We pulled her out of the water and sat her down. We decided that Fiachra run on for help and I would play it by ear and stay with her. Well enough to walk we stumbled along and met Fiachra coming back with help, a couple who had hired a guide. Their guide had ran on and called the hospital. After a long, slow and tedious return to the road we were almost there and we met the medical resue team with a hard stretcher but was not now needed. Driven by themselves, the police arrived (4 of them) in a taxi ( a 30 year old Peugeot 504) and questioned what happened. It was hard not to laugh. They all piled into the taxi and drove to the hospital. Juliana was xrayed in the head and back and was ok. She had 9 stiches in the scalp and had an injection for the pain directly into her spine. We brought her home from hospital via the pharmacy. Shattered from exhaustion and the nerves me and frog sat down to a steak dinner and a bottle of wine.

06 Nov We went on a trip with 2 dutch girls from our hostel that we had met in Salta. We went on a 90km tour of the surrouding countryside and saw amazing rock formations. We were brought to this small canyon thing that had a local focloria (traditional music) band playing. The small rock formation had excellent ascoustics and without speakers filled the place with music. We went to this other place called 'Tears of the Sun'. It was a chasm type rock enclosure that created little water droplets that fell on our faces. It was hot, a completely cloud free day and the desert was as dry as a bone. Apparently no scientific explanation has been made. Wierd. Walter our guide drove us around in his old Peugeot and even let me drive it. It was a grand old yolk and we havent come all that far in the 30 odd years since it was built. At one point we were standing along the San Andreas fault, where 2 tectonic plates meet, and has witnessed some serious earthquakes.We saw lots of other stuff but only seeing would do it justice. That evening we went wine tasting ans sampled some organic wine.

07 Nov Left Cafyete this morning at 5am. We took the bus to Tucuman, which is probably about 2 hrs 30 mins away by car but took the bus 6 hours. We drove through every two bit village along the way picking up everyone from Nuns to school kids and their teachers. It was interesting to see part of their daily lives and general goings on in a dusty country village. It was exactly like what one would imagine rural Mexico to be like. We got to Tucuman about 12 and luckily got a connecting bus to Cordoba 5 minutes later. Another 8 hours later we arrived into Cordoba, after experiencing the maddest drivers in the world. It was a friday night and there were suicidal drivers everywhere. We were sitting on the front two seats of the double decker and watched it all happen. One lad was overtaking the bus with no space and ended driving into the hard shoulder on the other side of the road to avoid a collision. Another lad overtook the bus on the hard shoulder. We got to Cordoba and it was a big fast, aggressive, horn honking town. It was hot and sweaty and the hostel was a dump.

08 Nov Walked into town to the world heritage Square, Plaza San Martin for a look around. It was a big dissappointment. Some of the things to see were shut down for no reason and the banks were all out of money. We made an executive decision that the vibe was bad and got the 9pm night bus out of there that day.

09 Nov Arrived in Mendoza at 9am and after checking a few hostels, had to hang around until 2pm to check in. We met up with Cristina, an Italian girl, and all headed into town for a look around. It appeared to be a nice town but we didnt do much today. We met an Irish couple in our dorm and we all went out for dinner that night.

10 Nov After a good night sleep, Fiachra kindly shared his bed with a certain Italian lady, we got picked up for a mountain bike trip. After an hour or so, we arrived at this adventure centre place, collected our bikes and went further up into the mountains. The going was all on dirt roads with big rocks sticking out so we had to on our guard. It was tough in places but got progressively got more technical. Thank god for my BMX and dirt biking days as we were flying through twists and turns, narrow little passes, through streams, up and down like fiddlers elbows and flying it.
We both fell off a few times but escaped with only a grazed elbow. When we got back, we got chatting to an Irish couple from Meath. They were great craic and were on their honeymoon.
That evening we found an Irish bar and decided to have a beer. I got chatting to this Argentinian lad and he went on to tell me about great Irish lads he met while serving on the Peace corps in Kosovo. I asked him if he met many British soldiers and he said that he had and his superiors had met there British counterparts, both of whom had fought on opposite sides in particular battles in the falklands war. The stories were fascinating stuff.

11 Nov Went on a wine tasting trip to the world famous Maipu Valley, where most Argentinian export wines come from. We got the local bus therefrom Mendoza and rented bikes from a Mr Hugo. We cycled around to all the wineries and visited a chocolate liquer factory and olive factory. Funnily enough we had the best wine in Mr Hugos back yard when we returned the bikes as he kept filing our glasses with the locally made plonk. Back on the bus on the way back to Mendoza we watched an amazing thunder and lightening storm. The orange sunset against huge forks of pink lightening was beautiful.

Waterfalls to Mountains, Gringo style!

2008-11-04T15:22:00.001Z

29 Oct Tried to get on a trip today but it was fully booked so booked it for tomorrow. Went into town and booked buses and did our internet stuff. Was lashing rain so probably a good thing that we didn’t get on that tour. The hostel had a BBQ nite and a free tequila based cocktail (tequila, soda water, limes,sugar). I drank loads of them and was locked. I puked up outside my dorm in the hedges, licked my lips and went to bed. Good night though.

30 Oct Got picked up this morning to go on our day trip to the Haipu Dam in Brazil, the town of Ciudad del Este (CdE) in Paraguay and back into Brazil for the tour of the Brazilian side of the Iguazu falls. The Dam is the biggest Hydroelectric dam in the world. Its 8km long, 200m high and generates 14,000 MW of electricity. That’s used to power all of Paraguay and 25% of Brazil, an area the size of India. It was colossal. We went to CdE which was a dump but had good shopping if one so required its goods. Back into Brazil and had an all you can eat buffet which was excellent before heading off to see the Iguazu falls from the Brazilian side. Although most of the falls are on the Argentinian side, they are best viewed from Brazil.

31 Oct Left Iguazu this morning bound for a town, on the West of Argentina, called Salta. It was to be a 25 hour journey but was extended by 2 hours due to the air conditioning breaking down. We were sweating like pigs in an abbatoir as these super a/c coaches have no opening windows. Finally it was fixed after hanging around a mechanics garage in some outback town. We enjoyed all the comforts en-route including meals, videos and big reclining seats and the 27 hours passed easy enough.

01 Nov Having celebrated Halloween on a bus and dressed up as a backpacker we finally arrived in Salta. Salta has a population of 450,000 so it’s a nice thriving city by Argentinian standards. Unfortunately I discovered that I lost my visa card and had to sort that out, had my debit card and no money had been taken out so thank god for that.
We had a look around town and went to this museum that had an Incan child (c.3000 years old) preserved in a -20C chamber. She had been found in a buried chamber on top of a mountain and was perfectly preserved (she was a live human sacrifice and had died of the cold).

02 Nov This morning we went to another Museum and saw old artifacts from bygone eras of Salta and Andean Argentina. In one section they had a transport museum full of wagons (like house on the prarie) , a child hearse, and a 1911 Renault Limo with an 8.5 litre engine. Seeing as it was a Sunday I thought a trip to the Cathedral would be a good idea to hear the choir etc. It wasn’t much good so we left. We went up the Gondala (cable car) to the Cerro san Bernardo, a hill overlooking Salta. It was a lovely cool spot and had lunch there.

03 Nov Went on a trip today to the Andean highlands. We reached a height of 4170 metres, practically at the altitude sickness height. To combat the ill effects we were advised to suck on a heap of coca leaves (felt like I had a cabbage in my mouth), it worked too. We followed Ruta del Nubes (road to the clouds) into the mountains. We saw remains of old villages, an old mining town called San Antonio des Cobres for Lunch. Fiachra tried Llama and it was shite, I had the beef. We stopped for coca tea and met some indigenous mountain folk, saw viaducts, canyons, valleys, giant Cactus which were as old as 400 years. We went to the massive salt flats (Salinas Grandes) where they harvest salt. Got some great photos and on the way home we saw 7 colour hill, a huge rock formation with lots of different rock types. The crowd were good craic and had a laugh with the guide, Mimi. Finished the trip at 10pm, about 14.5hrs in total. I pitied the driver but was a great day.

Buenos Aires to Uruguay to Iguazu

2008-10-28T11:02:00.004Z

21st Oct Dirty rainy day today. Had a good laugh at Fiachra getting his hair cut. A Canadian girl in the hostel was doing cheap cuts and Fiachra decided that his Amazonian mop needed trimming. There was tonnes of hair on the ground and after 30 mins she was still cutting and it looked no shorter. She was eventually doing the finishing touches to her lobb-sided creation and he looked more Mick Hucknal than Phil Lynott. When she finished pulling and tucking little bits here and there he just pushed his hand through it and ruffled it all up again.

Later on the cleaner came into the dorm and started gabbeling spanish to me, I kept answering Si, No and then said Dos por favor (2 please) and she stopped what she was doing and looked at me, realising I hadnt a clue what she was talking about for the last 5 minutes. Everybody roared laughing and the cleaner left.

We went into town that afternoon and walked around Buenos Aires. There are amazing old buildings with fabulous European influenced architecture but the newer stuff seems to be in poor order. The footpaths are all cracked and full of potholes and missing manholes and inspection covers are not unusual. Its a fine city though and we walked around the docks and saw a Argentinan Navy sailing vessel (Frigata Sarimento) that was used to train sailors. It had visited Galway on its 40 laps of the Earth many years ago and I remember Dad bringing us to see it.

22nd Oct Went to a place outside BA today on the train. Its a marshy Delta region known as Delta Tigre. It was set alongside a nice little town and we went on a boat trip to see some of the mansions along the canals etc. It was a nice day out even if the trip was a water bus for the locals.

23rd Oct Checked out of our BA hostel bound for Uruguay. We got a taxi to the ferry port but missed our 11.30am ferry by 10 minutes and had to wait until 7.30pm for the next one. We went into the city for another look around and visited Eva Perons grave. Another sight was this huge metal Tulip that petals mechanically close at night and open in the morning. In the fading light red spotlights light it up. It was obviously some commemeration monument but couldnt understand the Spanish explanation to know either way.

The ferry to Uruguay and to the town of Sacriemento De Colonial took 1 hour and we walked to our hostel. It was a bit of a dump but we had the dorm to ourselves.

24th Oct Walked around SDC and saw the sights. Its a nice little town but had not much to hold the average visitor more than a day. We got a bus to the capital, Montevideo, that afternoon. It seems a typical South American city that has had real glory days in the past but is now crumbling graffitied town with some fine old buildings. The hostel here is a bit of a dump too (allowing for the fact that the country is poor and prices are cheap). Our room stank of Vapona (fly spray) and there were 8 of us in a tiny room. The common area incorporated the reception, bar, TV room and pool table. The music was so loud we couldnt sleep, watch TV or read as all the bulbs were glow in the dark 25W jobs. No point complaining. Our whole dorm checked out the following morning.

25th Oct We hoped to get to a coastal town called Punta Del Este today but everywhere was booked out. It is a place famed for its beaches and celebrity sightings. We decided to go to a town called Tacuembro in the interior. We heard of a ranch that took tourists and showed them how to horseride, round up cattle and sheep etc. They were so remote they had no phone or email so they were only contactable when they came into Tacurembo. We emailed them and headed to Tac in the expectation that we could meet them there.

26th Oct Not to be for the city Slickers. We got an email to say that they were fully booked and we couldnt do it until the 07th November. Didnt realise it was so popular in such a remote spot. We looked around town anyway and got the bus to the Uruguayian / Argentinan border bound for the Iguazu falls. We stopped for the night at a town called Pasandu, it was a nice spot but had to leave on a connecting bus at 8am to a town called Colon on the Argentinian side of the border.

27th Oct Arrived at 10am, its a mad country town with dirt streets outside the centre, but we were not done with our run of unfortunate luck. Our next bus was due to leave at 6.15pm, but the lady behind the counter told us that a highway service station 10km out of town was a popular coach stop and we could get a bus coming from BA the rest of the way. Delighted we got a taxi there and 3 hrs later, nothing. We got a taxi back to town and bought tickets for the 6.15pm bus only to be told that we need to go back to the service station to meet that bus. Jesus. Anyway did that and waited for the bus to arrive. At 6.50pm it made its appearence. It was a fine bus... double decker with big plush seats, videos, waitress serving meals and wine. Along the way the bus stopped to pick up more passengers and I saw the waitress giving the leftovers to street kids, nice of her but a sad sight too.

End of NZ and onto South America

2008-10-20T21:55:00.003+01:00

14th Oct Slow day today, bought a lonely planet guidebook for Chile and Argentina and did my blog.

15th Oct Up and out early and got the bus to the airport. I flew to Auckland to catch up with my old travelling buddy (when I was in OZ 12 years ago) Johnnie Charlton. He met me at the airport and he hadnt changed a bit. From our last correspondence he was living in Auckland but had since moved 200km away. It was good though as our 2 hr journey was great to catch up. I met his parents again (same too) and manged to get a bottle of home brew wine from his dad, which was strong but good. I also met Maria, Johnnies wife who was lovely. She suited him down to the ground. She also made a great dinner too, a rarity when one is backpacking.

16th Oct After a glorius sleep in a double bed (rare these days) me and Johnnie went to a rainy Rotorua. Its a hot springs town with a rich Maori history. Thankfully we visited the place 12 years ago so we didnt do any of the activities this time round. had a mighty feed of fish and chips last night, a massive favorite in NZ & wrapped up in newspaper.

17th Oct Had a relaxed day today with a visit to town and a nice coffee shop for cappucino and chocolate cake. fab. Had a bit of lunch later and went back to johnnie house for a few DVDs.

18th Oct Left Johnnies place today and he kindly dropped me to the airport. On the way we went for a great chinese and up to see the views of the Auckland skyline from the extinct volcano crater. I flew to Santiago, Chile but after a few great days catching up with a freind I hadnt seen in the longest time away from a freind. Its funny to observe how our lives have changed so much in that time but as individuals we havent changed much, evolved maybe.
After a 90 minute delay, LA800 departed for Santiago.

18th Oct Its the same date as before but I crossed the International date line which adds a day when one flys east-west. Its such a change arriving into a world of Spanish having come from English speaking countries. I was practising my Spanish on the air hostesses, people in ticket sales etc thanks to my phrasebook. Its slow going though. Had a walk around the neighbourhood (2km from city centre) and went out for a steak with a lad I met in the hostel.

19th Oct Did a self guided walking tour of Santiago with another lad from the hostel. It was a nice enough city but nothing special. I didnt help that everything closes on a Sunday. I went out for dinner on my own tonight and had to do all the ordering myself. I was about a half an hour looking through the phrasebook trying to work out the ingredients in the various pizzas on offer.

20th Oct Left Santiago today and flew to Buenos Aires, Argentina to meet my brother Fiachra. The flight was amazing flying over the Andes and the Sierra de Cordoba which was very scenic. Fiachra met me off the airport bus and we went to the hostel. It was great to see him after 8 months. Had a look around Palermo (the neighbourhood were in) and relaxed for the evening getting to know the other residents.

South island & back round to Christchurch

2008-10-13T22:57:00.002+01:00

02nd Oct Up at 7.30am and after breakfast down I went to FJ Glacier hikes office. We were geared up for the glacier hike with hats, gloves, waterproof trousers, jacket & crampons. Crampons are metal devices that have big teeth and are attached to your boots whilst walking in the snow. Off we went, 9 of us to the glacier. It was a 2.6km walk along the river bed to the ice. There were people cutting steps into ice as the steps disappear everynight with ice movement. Its a tough old job, cutting ice with a pick-axe. I'd have imagined a glacier to be a smooth moving block of ice but its full of cracks and crevices, tunnels, holes and all sorts of amazing ice formations. The glacier was about 1 kilometre wide and 10 kilometre long. We walked all day and I was telling our guide that I was doing an article for 'Snow and Ice' magazine. She was very nice to us all day. I met a lad on our hike from my home village in Bearna. His name was Sean Armstrong, a sound lad but id never laid eyes on him before.

03rd Oct Hopped on the bus to Queenstown at 7.30am and visited a few places along the way but it was lashing rain and NZ is a lots to do with views so nothing wild or amazing there. later in the day I arrived in Queenstown, a skiing town, that specialises in all kinds of excitement. I went to this place caled 'Ferburger' a burger joint that sells huge gourmets burgers. My burger was a half pounder with brie cheese, salsa, salad and fine juicy NZ beef. Quality. All was washed down and palet cleansed with a fine goblet of NZ ale.

04th Oct Quiet relaxing day today. Checked out the town and the lay of the land. Booked a car for the Milford sound trip. Bought a rain jacket, went on internet, went out for beers.

05th Oct Hit the road with Jacko (Finland) & Suzie (Ireland) in our rental Toyota Yaris automatic enroute to the famous Milford Sound (MS). There was feck all power in it for 3 adults and their luggage going up the hills and mountain roads, but was a grand little yolk all the same. We stopped along the way to look at a restored steam train which was class. I was allowed in the drivers (engineer) seat and I yanked the horn. The driver was mad with me for doing it and especially when I shouted 'All aboard!' Sure nothing like a bit of craic. We got to MS eventually, and although it was fantastic, the drive there was even more so. A lot of the scenes from the movie 'The Lord of the Rings' was shot in this area and that was great to see. We took a boat tour through the sound and as we were the last boat there were only 6 of us so we all had great views and photo opportunities. We stayed the night in a local backpackers.

06th Oct It was a beautiful morning and we popped back to MS to take a couple more pics. On the way home we stopped at this random cafe in the middle of nowhere. The owner greeted us warmly and was very freindly and all chat. He told us with great enthusiasm about his speciality coffees and his magic recipies... uh oh. Up till that point we took it all with a pinch of salt and thought he was just a bit ecentric. He had us cornered and started to Bilble bash us with quotes from St. John and repentence will set you free only if your born again and all kinds of wacko shite. i was biting my the inside of my mouth trying not to laugh. The others wouldnt look at me as they knew they'd burst. Half hour later we made our excuses and left for Queenstown, he followed us out telling us he had a crazy golf course and would we like a game. Nice man, but mad as a brush.

07th Oct Me and Jacko went to this place on the Hill in Queenstown called 'The Luge'. to get to the Luge you have to pay $25 for the Gondala or walk. We walked. Jacko was in the Finnish army and he flew up. My legs were fecked. Got there anyway and got our luge tickets. the Luge is a go kart track for adults, but the karts have no engines. Its all downhill on a special track with twists and turns. We paid for 2 runs, i won the first and jacko the second. We were flyin it and up on 2 wheels going round the bends, it was mighty craic and we were screaming in competitive excitement the whole way down. I havent laughed that much in an age.

Yesterday I saw an acrobat plane in the air and thought that I d love to do that. i asked the manger in the hostel about it and he said he could organise it. 2 hours later i was taxiing down the Queenstown airport in a 2 seater stunt plane (me at the front and pilot at the back). Once up in the air we did loop the loops, flew upside down, straight up and straight down, pearl harbours... the whole lot. We pulled -3G's and +5G's, whatever that means but im told its a lot. 15 minutes later i was ready to empty my guts. i was delighted i didnt pay the extra to do the 25 minute flight. It was a mad thing to do and certainly once in a lifetime. i never knew that it was a commercially available thing to do and it was unreal. It cost E140 but was worth it.

08th Oct On the Magic bus at 8am enroute to Dunedin. Dunedin is 170km from Queenstown and is a small city. It is the home to the Cadbury Chocolate factory in NZ but its no Willy Wonka. i did the trip and was good craic but nothing too exciting. Got a few bits of free chocolate and took some photos. Not much to do in the town, and watched 3 videos in the hostel that night.

09th Oct Went on a wildlife trip this afternoon and saw giant Royal Albatross (wingspan 3m across), seals and their pups, ywellow eyed penguins & sea lions. We were up close to them in their natural habitat behind a gauze that allowed us to see but not them. The sea lions were huge fat yolks that weighed about 35 stone. It was very interesting.

10th Oct Left Dunedin this morning and on the way out of town we stopped at the 'World steepest street' aka Baldwin street. I climbed to the top and back down and wondered how anything drove up and down it. The road was covered in skid marks. went on to this place called 'Moeraki'. on the beach there were big boulders that looked like dinosaur eggs, mad lookin yolks. After a bite to eat we went onto the town of Oamaru. Just beyond the town I was dropped off to go to the Glenmac farmstay. i was the only one that got off, but didnt mind. I figured i was going to be a cowboy for a couple of days and do some mad redneck stuff. In reality I was bored within minutes. the hostess as not feeling well and not very chatty and her husband the farmer just watched TV. The brochure spoke of horseriding but that wasnt a runner. A neighbouring farmer visited and I asked him if he needed any help. He was in the process of assembling a trailer he bought so I went off with him and did that. Went to bed at 7pm.

11th Oct I went for a walk around the farm and i kept close to the fence so I could find my way back. It was a big farm and lots of hills and mountain and easy to get lost. I walked for 2 hours and saw 2 dead sheep and a dead cow lying in a river. When i got back the farmer wasnt too interested. On another walk that evening I came across another dead sheep which i unwittingly walked right up to and the smell was unbelieveable.

12th Oct Due to leave today so I went for yet another walk in the morning to pass the time. On my way back I saw a sheep lying on its own and in labour. Upon further inspection the lamb was dead and 2/3rds of the way out of his mother. The mother way lying on a hill side and her legs were uphill so she couldnt get back on her feet. I thought about doing the heroic thing and helping her out but felt i could get kicked and maybe attacked if she though I killed her lamb. So off I went down the mountain looking for farmer enthusiasm. I told him what i saw and he pondered for a while and decided to drive up the mountain in his 4wd and sort it out. We did and he took the sheep back to the farm enclosure whith shade and long grass to recover. He reckoned the sheep was there for 3 days and was completely exhausted, it couldnt even stand. i got no recognition for my awareness or help in the matter but i felf proud that I saved the sheeps life.

got picked up by the magic bus and went on to seee a hydroelectric dam and on to our overnight stop in the mountains to a town called 'lake Tekapo'. i booked a trip that night to Mt johns Observatory, a telescope station that allows public access to Government funded telescopes. They were the real McCoy that looked out through dome roofs with the gap for the scope. We saw nebuluses, constelations, stuff that 160 million years away. we were shown Jupiter and its moons, the Southeren cross, the clouds of majellan and real close up views of the moon. It was so bright and i saw craters and land formation etc. Amazing stuff.

13th Oct Left lake tekapo this morning bound for Christchurch. Stopped at a few places along the way. There was a good crowd of us and that night we went out on the town. We went into this Irish bar and upon recieving my drink at the bar, I said 'Slainte' to the bar man. He said'what?' and I explained that that was 'cheers' in Irish and he should know that. He said 'How should i know that, im a kiwi!' i replied 'the same reason you dont know the difference between good staff and average staff'. He didnt like that but the bar burst out laughing. Gobshite, good night though.

07th Oct

The Fiji hee bee gee bee (Part 3) and on to the big NZ

2008-10-01T03:42:00.005+01:00

26th Sept Didnt do much today, spent a few hours updating my blog and email etc. Managed to laze about the pool and do my laundry.

27th Sept Got the bus this morning at 7.30am to do a 1 day cruise. We sailed on the 'Seaspray' an 83ft schooner to another archipelago of islands known as the 'Mamanucas'. They are beautiful tropical islands that were chosen as the location for various TV shows including 'Celebrity Love island', the movie "The Blue Lagoon' and 'Castaway' the Tom Hanks shipwreck movie which was filmed on the island of 'Modrik'. I walked around it and through the middle of it but couldnt recognise much but was beautiful all the same. We visited another island and were guests of the chief (who get paid, no doubt) but its all part of their island economy. To visit a tribe, a visiting group must appoint a group (tribe) leader and he must have a spokesman. Nobody wanted to be the spokeman (as they have to make a speech) but Rena , an English girl that was on the Feejee island trip, volunteered me. So there I was again, drinking Kava with the movers and shakers af the island with a population of about 30. I said a few words, threw in a bit of wisdom for good measure and that was that.

28th Sept Up at 5.30am today and was at the airport at 6.15am. My flight to Christchurch (CC) on the south island of New Zealand (NZ) was at 8am. On the plane I got chatting to this older lad and it turned out he was the owner of the resort (Voli voli) that I did my wreck dive in and his son was my dive instructor, small world. We had a great chat about business on the island and I gave him plenty of feedback incl ways he could earn and save based on my experiences in other resorts. He seemed more than happy to hear it (I hope).

I got to Christchurch and walked out the doors of the airport and straight back in again. It was bloody cold. I opened my bag and put on half its contents. I got the bus into the city centre and checked in. Had a brief walk around and it seems like a nice place. I also booked the 'Magic bus' around the South Island which is a hop on hop off arrangement too. I also have to catch a train to meet the bus which involves getting the 'Tranz Alpine Express'. Apparently one of the best train rides in the world through the mountains to the countrys West coast.

29th Sept Had to do a load of jobs today like photo development, post office, buy camping stuff etc. I also did the walking tour of CC including Parks, museum, art Gallery etc. and a bus ride around the city (all free ;-) ) It is a fine, well laid out city. Built by the Brits.... wouldnt you know it.

30th Sept Up at 6.30am (or so I thought) to get the shuttle bus to the train station to the West Coast. Having looked at my watch during breakfast and it was 7.50am, I realised that I had not adjusted my alarm clock for daylight saving. I ran to reception with a mouth full of muesli and I must have been a sight trying to explain myself to the lad behind the counter who was obviously more interested in what was falling out of my mouth that what i was saying. Anyway he rang a taxi and I was rushed to the train station and thankfully, when I arrived at 8.13am, there was a short queue to slow things down slightly. The train left at 8.15am on the dot. Phew.

The train journey lived up to its reputation as we travelled through amazing countryside. I marvelled at the Cantebury plains (huge flat and fertile farming land), snow capped mountains, huge Gorges, viaducts and 3 tunnels (one was 8km long and took 20 minutes to pass through). Originally built for Mining and transport purposes, its now just a tourist thing...but great. It took 4hrs 45 mins to reach Greymouth, the mouth of the Grey river, and the end of the line. I checked in to the YHA hostel and had a look around town. Your wanno in the hostel sold me a ticket for the local brewery (Monteiths) tour and all you can eat BBQ which was good. We tasted 7 types of beer (dont remember what the last 2 tasted like ;-) ) Good craic though.

01st Oct Officially the 1st day of the NZ summer but it was cold and was raining on and off. (NZ is like Ireland in lots of ways) Headed off on the magic bus this morning and stopped at a town called 'Hokitiki' where the make crafts from 'Jade' , a local precious stone and at a town called 'Ross' where they still mine for Gold. A few bought a 15 minute panning for Gold session and actually got a few flecks. Moved on to tonights destination, a town called 'Franz Josef' (FJ) here in FJ is the FJ Glacier. One of only 3 moving glaciers in the world. I booked a full day hike tomorrow with tour guide. Hope the weather will be nice.

The Feejee Experience (Fiji Part 2)

2008-09-26T04:25:00.003+01:00

20th Sept Was collected by the Feejee experience bus today and went into Nadi town centre to the markets and the shops to stock up on supplies for the trip. The group seem nice but i will be leaving the group tomorrow to go on the shark dive. Later that morning we went to a native village called Malomalo. We had to wear sarongs while there and met a few of the locals, saw their mix of traditional and modern homes. After that we went to a town called Sigatoka, just outside the town they have huge sand dunes and we went sandboarding which was dusty but good craic. The group are mostly late teens /early twenties so last night after dinner the dorm became the party venue (Bar was too expensive) and I hadnt a chance of getting any sleep. So me and Andy (another 30 something) decided to find another place to sleep. We came across another dorm that was not being used and slept there. The party in the other dorm went on until 4am until security called a halt to it.

21st Sept Up and out at 6.45am for showers and breakfast and on the bus at 7.45am bound for a place called Pacific Harbour where the best Shark diving takes place. I got off there, left my group and checked into the Uprising holiday resort for 2 nights. I walked the beach and had a look around the town, not up to much though.

22nd Sept Woke this morning at 6am and couldnt get to sleep again with thought of the sharks. Got collected for the dive at 8am. To that point my training had me in shallow, warm and blue waters.... but this was different. We went out into the high seas, I had to jump off the boat with all my gear on into water that I could not see the bottom. The swells seemed huge allowing me to see the boat one minute and disappear behind a wave the next. I was well taken aback by the raw-ness of it all, and hadnt even seen a shark yet. This was hardcore diving and the lad beside me had done 641 dives. Oh well, in for a penny in for a pound and down i went 30 metres (95ft) to a shelf near the sea bed. We watched the feeder below us creating a feeding frenzy with the other fish to attract the interest from the nearby sharks. It did. A bull shark arrived and it was huge. It was about 10ft long and a fat as a cow. It was just like the movies with those eyes, teeth and white belly. We saw grey reef sharks, white tip sharks but no tiger sharks. They were the real bad boys. The bulls were the stars of the show eating huge fish heads like jelly babies and ripping them apart like wet cardboard, all the time my head sinking lower behind the ledge. I wasnt too disappointed not seeing the tiger as Id never seen any sharks in real life before. The day involved another shallower dive to see some more sea life but the sharks were the maddest thing ever.

23rd Sept Joined the Feejee experience again this morning. I think they are a better crowd than the other lot, not as rowdy and drink orientated. We went for a 3 hour trek through the jungle and waded through rivers and muck, good craic. We had lunch by a riverside in the jungle and then got into tubes and floated down the river. Along the way we jumped in rock pools, under waterfalls and finished the trip in a long boat speeding down the river. It was lashing rain and we got soaked. After a change we headed for Suva (the capital) and had a tour. It like all fiji towns was a dump (its a poor country)

24th Sept Today we visited a local school. It was very rural, had 6 classrooms and no electricity. We visited every class where the children sang for us, asked us questions and we asked them Q's. They were great kids and so happy. Each class got a big bag of sweets from the group which the teacher shared out. We brought stationery, paints, crayons and pencils which they only get from the likes of us. The tour visits a different school or orphanage every time so a school may not see the Feegee crowd again for months. One of the teachers said our visit was like Santa Claus for the children. Before i left Australia, these children were preparing for our visit. I had a $3.50 football with me which all the kids were watching to see who I would give it to. We were told about these 3 kids that walked 12km to school every day leaving at 5am to be in class for 8am. There were so many deserving cases that I gave the ball to the teacher to keep for good boys and girls to play with at break time. In another class the kids were told to tell the teacher the capital of the country of each of the visitors as the visitor told them their country. Only one lad got Dublin right (or Dob bling as he called it) and all I could give him was one of my 2 bananas. I told him he could have it if he could catch it. He put his hands up in the air and it sailed 20ft across the room into his anticipating little paws. All the kids were jumping up and down and screaming with excitement. Out of the group of 22 there were 18 English so the 'London' drone from the kids quickly changed when one girl said 'Northern Ireland'. Another bright spark got it right and i gave her my last banana to throw to him.
After all that excitement we went to visit a tribal leader for a Kava ceremony. I got on great with him and we talked about Rugby, Irish/australian football and what i did for a living. During the meeting the women brought out cakes for E1 each to eat if we wanted. I insisted on buying one for the chief, his son and his spokesman. I proceeded to eat the cake and drink the ceremonial drink (Kava) at the same time as if it was a cup of tea. They were all in knots. For the laugh I asked one of his wives if she was married. She replied that she was married to the chief and I said that that was a pity because she was so beautiful (she was about 25 stone and the size of a horse) the chief stood up and went into his house and came back out with a pen and a bit of sandpaper. He asked me if I liked Fijian women, which i said yes (was hardly going to say no) and he told me he had many women for me. He told me to write my address on the back of it and said they would write to me..... hmmm, I hope they are not like his wife.
We checked into the resort of Volivoli that day. A nice remote resort owned by a new Zealand family. I got chatting to their son, Steve that evening and I asked him about a sunken ferry nearby and what was the chances of getting to dive down to see it. He was the resort dive instructor and we arranged to do it the following morning.

25th Sept Met up with Steve at 8.30am and got geared up for my first wreck dive. In 2003 a rust bucket, unseaworthy ferry sank off Volivoli. It was full of trucks and cars and sank to the bottom eventually lying upside down. It took us a while to find it, but we did and swam through holes in the hull, up stairs, though doorways and into the cargo hold. There were loads of vehicles there with their containers open and full of stuff. We had torches and was very different to the other dives. we hung around for a while. I would have preferred if it the ferry was the right way up but no matter, it was a great experience. Back to the resort and were on the bus for 12 midday. We headed to an Indian reataurant for our 'Indo-fijian cultural experience' ,what a sham. $20 for a low grade Indian dinner and that was it. We made note of that one in our feedback forms. After that we went to the hot mud pools and immersed ourselves in this hot mud and of course all the sheenanigans took place including flinging mud, mud in the hair etc. After that we went over to the clean water hot springs and washed off all the mud. We made our way back to Nadi where we finished the trip.

Thats the Fijian way (Fiji Part 1)

2008-09-26T00:15:00.004+01:00

11 Sept Slept in a bit today (10am) as I was used to 6am starts throughout most of Oz. Went into the town where my Guesthouse is (Nadi) with a couple of English lads I met. Although its not the capital it was not up to much, a bit of a dump really. I went into this shop to buy water and it was all caged in and all the houses have big metal fences around them. Had a walk around and went back to the hotel for a siesta, lunch, played pool and watched a movie. Booked my ticket to the Yasawas islands onboard a 7 days cruise.

12 Sept Headed off this morning at 8am on the Yasawas flyer, a high speed Catamaran to the Yasawas islands (YI). The YI are an Archipelago of beautiful islands with the stereotypical turquoise waters and coral beaches. I met a few people on the boat including a lad from Clifden (Fergus Foyle) and should be good craic. Later we arrived at Tavewa island for our 1st and 2nd night. We had lunch & I booked in to do an introductory scuba dive. The intro dive cost E70 and was a 90 minute instruction which involved a dive to 6 metres. It was amazing to dive for the first time. All my life I was only ever underwater for a few seconds holding my breath or on the surface with a mask and snorkel. Here we were sitting in another world on the sea bed looking at fish, coral , shells and other mad looking sea creatures. It was wierd, scary and exhilarating at the same time. Later that night we had a buffet dinner with traditional Fijian music and beer.

13 Sept I decided to go ahead and do the Open Water Dive course, which upon completion a graduate can dive without the assistance of an instructor. It cost E250 and involved 3 more dives and an exam. I did 2 dives today and saw and touched loads of sea creatures.

14 Sept Did another dive today, did my exam and passed!! hooray! I left the island today and boarded another boat, the Wanatki for an overnight stay on board. We were fed and entertained by the crew and introduced to 'Kava' a non alcoholic traditional fijian drink, with certain hallucanogenic effects reported. None for me but I slept like a log that night.

15 Sept Were transported to Kuata island today. Its a small fun place, a real tropical village like something out of a Lilt or Malibu ad. Had more Kava, traditional music & fire dancing.

16 Sept Spend most of the day relaxing, reading and went on a hike to the top of the island to watch the sunset which was good but a few clouds on the horizon made a bags of that.

17 Sept Left Kuata today and headed to South Seas Island (SSI). SSI is the smallest inhabited island in Figi and is like something out of a desert island movie. I walked completely around the island in 6 minutes! Did some kayaking, but mostly read and chatted to other residents.

18 Sept Left SSI today and headed back to the mainland. We checked into the same resort aagin with my new crew but most were heading off in all directions the following day.

19 Sept Got may hair cut today to it shortest length ever (1mm). A No.1 all round, I liked it but not a O'Donnellan and Joyce cut methinks. I booked my Figi experience tour around the main island, leaving tomorrow. Its a hop on hop off bus that allows you the tour guide info and interesting sights along the way but get off when you like for a few days and hop on the next bus.

Perth and the rest of Oz

2008-09-19T00:12:00.003+01:00

28th Aug Left Perth this morning after staying the night at Brian Fahys apartment. Collected Sally (England) and Sonja (Germany) from the YHA at 8.15am in the city centre. We headed off south towards a seaside town called Freemantle (FM). After taking a few wrong turns we arrived in FM, saw the marine Museum and the local beer brewery known as 'Little Creatures' it was quiet good. Called to various towns along the way including Rockingham, Bunbury, Mandurah, Busselton with its longest Jetty in the Southern Hemisphere (2km). Walked half of it but was very cold. Got to Margaret river, famous for its wine regions and gourmet food, that evening and camped in the car park of the visitors centre.

29th Aug Got up at 6.45am (wardens check for illegal campers at 7am) after a 9.5 hour sleep and had a breakfast of melon, tea and muesli bars. We went down to shower at the local backpackers hostel and hit the road toring the local winerys, coffee roasters, cheese makers and chocolate factory. After 4 hours of self indulgence we headed south for Augusta (the most South Westerly town in Australia) It was very wild with massive waves and high winds, next landmass south was Antartica.

30th Aug Went to the valley of the Giants, a forest of huge trees. There was a metal elevated walkway there that allowed its pedestrian walk around the tree tops about 50 metres up. I climbed to the top of the tallest tree via a spiral staircase around its trunk. They were originally built to allow sighters spot forest fire locations. In the area were those trees that you go walk in under them and in the past allowed you to drive your car under (no more though). Drove late until 8.30pm, 2.5 hours after dark. Driving slowly along (60klm ph) we spotted a kangaroo in the middle of the road. We slowed to a standstill with the head lights on him. We looked at him and he looked at us for about 5 secs and he hopped away. He was lucky we weren't a roadtrain. We travelled through towns such as Denmark, Albany and stopped for the night in a tiny town called Mungalip to camp for the night.

31st Aug Made our way to a town called Esperance and saw 'Australias Best beach'. Drove on to Norseman, the town at the Western end of the Nullabor plain (NP). The NP is a 2700km highway linking Perth to Adelaide. Its a mammoth of a car journey through the most isolated part of Australia. We drove 410 km today and camped at a rest stop on the side of the road.

01 Sept Drove to a roadhouse 40 km down the road today for our shower. At 6.30am we were mad for road. Along the way we saw fantastic views of the Southern Ocean and the Great Australian Bight. we saw whales and their calves resting by the cliff edge and after a 750km rally behind a roadtrain in the dead of the night we pulled in 25km before the South Australia border town of Ceduna.

02 Sept drove through the WA/SA Quarantine border and a few towns such as Iorn Knob (which gave the occupants of the van some material for some good jokes) Ceduna, Port Augusta and finally arrived in Adelaide around 7.45pm. Sally checked into the YHA and Sonja met up with a freind of hers. We all headed out for pizza and beer for our last Hurrah. I slept in the van outside the YHA.

03 Sept As time was short and couldnt get anyone to come along, I planned my route to Melbourne all by myself. Its definitely better travelling with others to share the costs and having a bit of craic along the way. I drove most of the day (550km) through beautiful countryside and typical Aussie towns before arriving at the start of the Great ocean road (GOR). I pulled into the carpark of the first attraction (the bay of Islands) and went to bed. It was howling wind and rain outside so with the pizza slices left over from last nights jumbo pizza I munched them quiet happily rather than getting out and cooking. I had 3 sleeping bags, my fleece, socks and my hat on and was snug as a bug. It was 7C outside that night.

04 Sept Slept like a log last night and was up and out for 7am. Saw all the sights along the GOR, amazing rocky outcrops and landscapes. Sights included London Bridge, Loch Ard Gorge, 12 Apostles, and went to Cape Otway lighthouse. It was cool to be allowed into the lighthouse and climbed to the top and wander around. The history of the place was very interesting and looked at the lighthouse keepers residence and telegraph station from the 1850's. Arrived in Melbourne around 6.30pm and took my usual heap of wrong turns, got lost (easy when you have no navigator) and no proper map. I stopped at a petrol station and bought the A-Z for $27 which was a bummer just to find a hostel. i went to a popular area called St. Kilda, it was full of dual carraigeways , one ways, tramways etc. I pulled up on a particular street to consult my new map and a less than healthy looking lady opened the passenger door and said 'You looking for a girl?', I thanked her for her kind offer and declined. She had a look at my bag on the seat and didnt do anything but was enough to give me enough reason to get out of Kilda. Exhausted from the driving around and my brain doing a million miles per hour I stopped at a park outside the Novotel Hotel and went to bed.

05th Sept Up with the bin lorries at 6.30am and hit the road towards the city centre. I checked the lonely planet and decided on the YHA in North cehtral Melbourne. Once I was in the old town it was way easier to navigate and was at the hostel within 15 minutes. I checked in for 2 nights. Its a nice place and was delighted to have a decent bed and shower etc for a change. I even had a bath which i fell asleep in. I headed into town and had a look at the sights incl the Victoria Parliament house and was given the tour by a Limerick man.. Rode around in the trams and buses and took in the city. Met up with 2 lads, Eoin from Claregalway and Lee from England. They are joining me for our trip to Sydney in 2 days time.

06th Sept Went into town again today and checked out the library, Museum (amazing) and the AFL and cricket grounds. Went out on the town with the lads which was good craic.

07th Sept Headed off in the van with Lee and Eoin towards Wilsons Promomitory (dont know what a promomitory is). It was windy and cold but its the most southerly point in Australia. It was a beutiful spot and we camped at this campsite on a place called 80 mile beach. We were eaten by mosquitos. The rush fro coils and repellants was Olympic. Met an American couple at the campsite and they had a fire going. Nice.

08th Sept Drove to Snowy creek National park (where the Australians do their skiing). It was very cold and we were limited where we could go without snow chains etc. Had a good look around and headed off on a drive along this stretch which the map said had a few unsealed bits (No tarmac) It turned out to be a road like something out of the 1800's. we crossed over 2 bridges that were made from wood, though a town that nobody lived in, a town with one house and that was up for sale and was definitely the most rural part of Australia that I was ever in. We got to a roadside rest area and lit a big bonfire. It was freezing (we were not at sea level). That night I was rotating myself around the fire like a pig on a spit. That night i was in 2 sleeping bags, fully clothed, hat on and had to run the engine twice in the night to break the cold. Temp had dropped to minus 3 degrees celcius.

09th Sept Up and out at 5.45am we hit the road straight away. The sun came up about 6.30 and we felt at 7.30 it was warm enough to pull over for breakfast. We got to the capital city later that morning and had a tour around Parliament buildings. It was a new building and was amazing. We saw the national Library and had a look around the city centre. We arrived in Sydney that night and treated ourselves to a steak dinner and a couple of fair dinkum aussie beers.

10th Sept Dropped the van back to the rental crowd and after a check over and a disagreement over an acceptable level of return cleanliness, I was in the clear and deposit intact. Great! a month in the outback and 12,500 km without a ding was a great achievement. I said goodbye to Eoin and caught the train to the airport. After the usual airport rig ma role I boarded the Jumbo 747 for Figi.. It was nice to arrive into the heat again and checked into my hotel in Nadi Figi.

Broome and on down to Perth

2008-08-27T10:11:00.002+01:00

16 Aug Met up with a buddy of mine that I met in Ko Samui today. We called to her flat for afternoon Tea and was great to catch up with her. We had been good freinds at the detox. Later in the afternoon I went to a crocodile farm and saw huge crocs and watched the tour guide feed them chicken carcasas. He threw hard plastic balls in their pen and instinctivly they jumped out of the water and crushed them like grapes, v. entertaining. I went down to the beach with Corina and her freind to watch the sunset and enjoyed a cheese and wine snack. Her freind had a dog and I spent lots of time and effort throwing the ball for him, felt like home. Fair play to Corina, she invited us to her place for dinner (me and 2 freinds from the hostel) and lots of good aussie red wine.

17 Aug Met up with a couple of Irish girls (Trish and Ruth) today as they were interested in travelling with me in the camper to Broome. We disscussed the route and the time etc and we were all in agreement which was great. we decided to leave the following day. I went to the beach again to see the 'ships of the desert' a camel train that passes along Cable beach every day, About 20 camels in all. After that Corina joined us for another fine sunset and had a few beers whilst enjoying the spectacle.

18 Aug Up at 7am today and met Ruth and Trish at 8am. We went shopping for a load of water and groceries for our 7 day journey. Eventually we hit the road and drove all day through the nothingness to a mining town called Port Headland (PH). There was a spectacle to be seen there called the 'Staircase to the Moon'. This involved a full moon and a low tide co-inciding to creat a moonshine glimmer over the wet sand that created an illusion of a illuminated staircase to the moon. It was amazing but no photo would do it justice. We went into town to look for accommodation but everything seemed to be closed. We found this backpackers hostel listed in the lonely planet and went inside. We met this man in the hallway and he asked us what we were doing, i replied that i was looking for the reception. He said that this was a private house and we were to leave immediately. We apologised profusely and the girls turned on the Irish charm and he came round. as we were leaving he acknowledged that it was a hostel but had since become a private residence. We decided to leave PH and drive way out of town as everything was full of miners. We drove in the dark dodging Kangaroos and cattle until we found a quiet layby and decided to stop there for the night. The girls were too afraid to set up the tent and we all slept in the back of the van. Good craic and very cosy.

19 Aug Hit the road at 6.30am and headed south towards karinji National Park. I left the girls asleep in the back of the van and I drove about 2 hours to the nearest roadhouse (petrol station / truck stops) where we showered and changed. later in the morning we arrived in Karinji and drove around to the Gorges along dirt roads. Thank god the vehicle was not mine as they were dreadful. Looked a few Gorges and did a few short walks. We camped at the national park campground and made dinner in our little camper kitchen. To be fair, the girls cooked and did it well. I ate like a lord and enjoyed ice cold beers. lovely. That night we finished washing up etc and put our rubbish in a bag. I left it at the back door of the van so it would be smelly while we slept. The girls went off to the toilets and i was putting stuff in the side door. I heard a rustle and went to the back of the van to see what it was. I saw nothing and the rubbish bag was gone. The girls arrived back and i told them to get ready quick and get into the van. It was dark at this stage and I got my LED flashlight out and start shining it into the Bush. There were dozen of illuminated eyes watching us, I started throwing handfuls stones at them and kept shining the light at them. They were wild dingos, and the girls had dropped some raw meat during their dinner preparation. Although dingoes are supposed to be harmless, a starving wild animal is never to be trusted. We got into the van and the girls passed on the tent option for the 2nd night. The following morning paw prints were all around the van. It was a good laugh though.

20 Aug Headed away from Karijini towards a town called 'Tom Price'. We shopped and showered there and headed towards Exmouth 500km away. We didnt expect to make it that day but wanted to chew up as many kilometeres as possible. We fueled up at this roadhouse and it was starting to get dark. We needed to go a 100 km more and didnt like the dark driving. As luck would have it a road train passed and we tore after it. We sat behind it all the way as it bulldozed its way through the wildlife and we got to our campsite. Lady luck was on our side as we pulled in a couple of South African girls were nursing a lovely fire and BB ing kangaroo. We swopped beer for Kangaroo and heat (cold in the desert a night) and had a great evening.

21 Aug With the 2 girls fast asleep again I drove to Exmouth (Ex). Ex is a quiet spot and had a night lighthouse and beach. We bought some supplies and headed to Coral Bay (CB). Got to CB late and went to bed.

22 Aug We all booked on a quad biking tour which was mighty craic. They were new 500cc quads and we drove over the sands dunes and track in the area. We did some real challenging stuff which was great and a surprise. We saw turtles, beautiful white beaches with turquoise waters. We left about 4pm and headed to Shark bay / Monkey Mia (MM) 375km away. I drove till 2am (girls asleep in the back) until 2am. We needed to get there that day as there are wild Dolphins that come to shore at MM at 7.45am. We parked in the visitors centre carpark and slept.

23 Aug Got up at 7am and went down to the beach to watch the Dolphin spectacle. It was amazing as they came up and looked at everybody with direct eye contact and played in the water as they waited to be fed. I was right up beside them in the water (no touching allowed) and was a great feeling. We went for breakfast in a local cafe and the seagulls would land in on a table and eat the scraps before they were cleared. Amazing. Along the shore in MM there are lots of Pelicans. Wierd looking creatures that seemed to enoyed being photographed. They would open, then close their mouth. Then they would turn left then right. neck up, neck down. It was hilarious. They mangement feed the Pelicans too as they would muscle in on the dolphins otherwise and that appartently would stop the dolphins coming in.
Later that day we headed towards Kilbarri National Park (KB NP) and were stopped by the police on the way. They randomly turned around and chased after us. We were completely legal other than having 3 passengers in a 2 seater campervan. They let us off and off we went. The 2 girls are quiet good looking and charm their way in and out of evrything. Great. saw Seashell beach (only sea shells on the beach) and stromolites, an oxegen producing organism that existed 160 million years ago. That night we didnt get as far as Kilbarri but stopped at a campsite, lit a bonfire and ate and drank. Bliss.

24 Aug Hit the road at 7am and got to KB NP, checked out a few Gorges and enjoyed driving on the dirt roads (just sand, no tar) Got to a town called Geraldton that evening and Ruth met a Cork lad that she knew. He was working there as a blocklayer so we ended up staying at their house that night and watched the Cork / Kerry semi final.

25 Aug Headed towards perth on the last leg of the Broome - Perth journey. we stopped to see the Pinnacles. A strange landscape with tower like mounds popping out of the ground. Like a huge bed of nails. Drove on to Perth and arrived late afternoon. I spent the evning going around to all the hostels putting up notices offering a lift share to Melbourne. After al that, we got to Ruths freinds house and I slept in he van on their driveway.

26 Aug Washed the van inside and out this morning. I met up with Brian Fahy, a freind from Galway who moved out here 9 months ago. He brought me around to see the sights. I was telling him that the radio didnt work in the van and he told me that the gargae he worked for was a mitsubishi garage and they fixed it for me. great. I got a call from 2 girls (Sally and Sonia) today wanting a lift to Adelaide, i was going to give it a miss as id been there already but what the hell, it was on the way and near Melbourne. We will leave the day after tomorrow. I met up with another girl I met at the detox called Lyndall. She made me a big dinner and met up with her sister and niece who were at the detox too. great night.

27 Aug went out to Scarborough beach today andHilary harbour. Beautiful seaside towns in the Perth suburbs. Had a nice lunch and looked at fabulous boats in the jettys. Meeting Brian tonight and staying the night. Heading south tomorrow on my 7 day journeyto Adelaide.

Back in Oz, Darwin to Broome

2008-08-17T04:08:00.002+01:00

11 aug Touched down in Darwin at 4am this morning. I was amazed at the levels of security in the airport and I was questioned twice before leaving arrivals not to mention the scanners & sniffer dogs. Finally got onto the shuttle bus and headed off into town. The driver dropped me off at Frogshollow backpackers, where I stayed in 1995. Nothing had changed in that time and the place had turned into a bit of a dive. It was 5.30am and i headed off up the town to see if I could find something a bit nicer. I stopped at a place and checked in. I went up to the dorm and as I shuffled in I was waking people so I decided just to dump the bag on the bed and take a look at the town. Darwin has grown a little but is still the same. It seemed busier when I was there before but everything is seasonal here. as id seen darwin there was not much point in hanging around so the day was spend looking at tours, cars and campervans for sale and rent. I finally decided on renting a small campervan for 30 days and drop it off at my exit point in Sydney, am collecting it tomorrow morning. A girl in the hostel from Northern Ireland has decided to go as far as Broome with me which is good for company and sharing the petrol. Picked myself up an Australian Mobile number too +61.415.283.532

12 Aug Picked up the campervan today and after signing a heap of conditions, off I went. picked up Karen and set off on our 300km Journey south to the town of Katherine. After seeing a few bits and pieces along the way we went a further 32km to katherine Gorge National pk. Its a stunning place and id been there before but worth seeing again. Went on a hike to the top of the gorge and went out for dinner that night and had Barramundi and chips, a local seafood delight. Delicious. Stayed in the adjoining campsite that night and met some nice people.

13 Aug We headed off today on our 500km journey to Kununurra, the town thats in the Kimberly mountain range. We crossed through the border in Western Australia and had our fresh food confiscated (1 orange) due to quarantine arrangements. As we were late leaving Katherine, it was getting dark as we arrived in WA and due to the danger of travelling at night with animals on the roads, i asked a Greyhound bus driver if we could drive in behind him on the way to Kununurra. All the way and no stops, perfect. The hostel was full so I slept in the van.

14 Aug I was woken by the hostel owner at 6am wondering what I was doing (as if he didnt know). I explained that karen was in the hostel and that they'd no room for me. I think he was OK once he gotten something out of us. The Bungle Bunle tours was not available that day and we would have to wait around for another day. we decided to press on and take in another national park nearby. On the road again we drove for 8 hours on our journey towards Broome. We came across this Govt. run campsite just off the highway and decided to check that out. It was full of campers and was a great spot. I saw crocodiles on the shore of nearby river and walked along a dried up riverbed. Cooked my first dinner in the camper and was quiet good (pasta and tomato sauce with cheese).

15 Aug headed off this morning at 7.30am for our final 500km journey to Broome. It was great to get away early as its much easier to drive in cooler tempertures. Stopped off at a roadhouse down the way for shower and some food. Got to Broome at 4.30pm and had a look around the town and the beaches. Broome has seen somewhat of an economic explosion as nearby mines and putting big money into peoples pockets. Trck drivers in the mines are making up to $3000 per week.

Singapore Sling

2008-08-17T03:27:00.002+01:00

08th Aug Arrived in Singapore (SP) and after the usual immigration rig ma role arrived without any hassle. Singapore on first impressions is a nice clean city and I liked it straight away. I checked into my hostel which was 2 km away from the bus stop. It looked near on the map, so I decided to walk it. With 20 kilos on my back it was tough going. I got to the hostel and a sign said 'sorry full' I went in anyway and was told that a group of 8 had just cancelled and there was a bed in a dorm room available. I took the room and got a cold reminder of life in dorms. It was twice the price for a bed in a dorm in Singapore than a double ensuite room in Thailand. After settling in, my first job was to call an old buddy of mine, james. He was a lad I met in the Detox in Ko Samui from SP and he had invited me to call him when I arrived in town. I met him that night and he had just returned from Malaysia too (he was on business though) he brought me and a work colleague of his to this lovely restaurant called 'Jumbo'. It is a seaside seafood restaurant and James ordered a load of stuff and we tucked in. It was delicious although he said they are often better. After that I saw into my first Sing high rise apartment when we dropped off his colleague and had a grand tour of her apartment. James dropped me back to the hostel.

09th Aug Met James at 10am today for a tour of some of the sights. First we went to see his new house which is not yet complete. It was built over 3 floors, solar heating, all ensuite etc. He had a swimming pool and all kinds of modern gadjets. It was very nice and I attempted a valuation. I reckoned $1.9million sing dollars ($2 = E1)but he told me he paid that for the site! we headed off in his nice new Mercedes and saw the opera house, the dockside, new and old colonial SP. No trip to SP would be complete without a visit to Raffles hotel (Raffles founded SP) and the long bar where the cocktail, the Singapore sling was invented. we had one of those each and lunch. James was meeting a freind for Golf so I headed off around town to buy new hiking shoes, which I found and were way cheaper than Ireland. I went to the National Museum, fort Canning park , where the British decided to evacuate SP due to a Japanese invasion. Home then for a shower and a change and meet James and his family for dinner. I had not dressed up in a long time for dinner and trying to find suitable attire for a posh SP dinner was not an easy task. Anyway, had a great time and a super chinese/sing meal and met his wife and 2 children. The meal was a huge array of everything and everyone just took what they wanted. James kindly dropped me home again.

10 Aug Went off to see a few final sights today and shopped for a few final bits and pieces. James wanted to bring me to one more place, an exclusive island off SP known as Sentosa island. SP's super rich live here and $5m is the norm for a house. We had lunch and James brought me out to the airport. Singapore is a beautiful city and was made so much more enjoyable by having a freind there to show me around and give me a real experience. James refused to let me pay for anything and met me everyday, for which I am very grateful.

Malaysia

2008-08-07T15:16:00.006+01:00

01 Aug Arrived in Kuala Lumpur (KL) at a different airport than I had expected. It wasnt a problem except for the fact that i was running around like a headless chicken looking for the train station and there wasnt one. Eventually got a shuttle bus into town, that took an hour and I got chatting to a Malay woman that was travelling from Borneo to KL and was familiar with KL. She was very helpful and sorted me out at the train station (which was huge). Eventually got to my guesthouse and booked their last room (thank god).
I headed out that night and couldnt believe how advanced and cosmopolitan the city was. Fabulous buildings, monorails, subways, massive shopping centres and monuments. I visited the Petronas towers, the highest twin towers in the world. They are the HQ to 'Petronas' a massive Asian oil company and the broadcasting HQ of Aljazeera TV

02 Aug Decided to go and see a few more sights today. Its amazing how futuristic the city is but makes no provision for cyclists and little or none for pedestrians. After setting off on foot and walking on the hardshoulder of flyovers and dual carriageways I got to the old KL train station. It was refurbished about 10 years ago but has since been superceeded by a huge new station. The Old one, built by the British, is like something out of the movies with multiple platforms and half barrell roof and beautifully tiled with little cafes alongside.
After that I visited this huge big Mosque (Masjid Negram). I marched up the steps through the barrier and halfway up the stairs I thought I was under attack from the Mudjahadeen. Apparently I should have covered my legs and taken off my shoes. I was marched back down the stairs and wrapped in a purple robe (worn by flesh exposing non Muslims) and off I went in for a look. It was a fine place but I was gone in 10 minutes.
I went then to the National Planetarium which had been marketed well but was overrun with Kids and was shite. The National Museum after that, crap. I went to KL tower with the revolving restaurant. I tried to find my way in but for all the roads, I couldnt. At 35C ones determination runs thin very quickly. Went back to the air conditioned comfort of the Petronas towers and had dinner in Burger King and dessert in Dunkin Donuts (How Malay of me)
I took the subway back to the guesthouse and booked my 3 day trek to Jalaweng Jungle. I had a walk thru the night markets and went to bed.

Aug 03 Went to the KL tower today, the 4th tallest structure in the world. Its always a great way to see a city and to get one bearings. Back to bed for a few hours and boarded the night train for Dabong at 8.30pm. Aka the 'Jungle train' took 12 hours to get to Dabong. Its a remote outpost and we were the only ones that got off. There was no platform so we had to jump onto the ground from the train (Another first).

Aug 04
There were 4 of us in the group (Alex, Stuart & Laura) and we were met by Yeo. After breakfast at a local eatery (hot curry) we met 'Uncle' and went on a short cave trek (3 hours). It was amazing and saw huge caves, wierd spiders and other critters. We headed for lunch and after that hiked to our base camp in the mountains. After been shown our huts we went swimmimg and the guides brought us up the rock face and sent us sliding down on our bums into the water. Never been down a rock waterslide before and it was terrifying but exhilarating once it was done. The food on base camp was good but the accommodation was shocking and the worst ive stayed in. On the first night we had to change huts as it was over run by Ants and there was rat shit all over the bed. I thought they were bits of foilage and went to wipe them away but disintegrated in my hand s and the smell was desperate. We moved to another and the smell of rat piss (one can only assume) off the mattress was stifeling. There were no mossie nets and was open to any unwanted native visitors if they wished to pay you a visit during the night. I slept on the piss ridden matress and was very humbling to say the least. It lashed rain too.

Aug 05 Was going to get up for the sunrise over the waterfall but was pissing rain. It cleared up later in the morning and after breakfast we went on another trek. It was up to the top of the waterfall where we went swimming. I was bursting to go to the toilet so, rather than go into the Jungle and let the less savoury of its inhabitants bite me where the sun dont shine I decided that I should go where the fish go. I found a nice spot behind a boulder with fast moving water (very imporant) and removed my swimming togs to complete the job. After watching the evidence float by and quickly disappear on its waterworld adventure and a quick clean around I appeared into view of the group. I joined them for lunch & made sure I shook hands with them all. I took a snooze after lunch on the rocks and was woken by a massive crack of thunder. I jumped up and started packing everything into my bag. The heavens opened up and it torrentially rained on us as we walked back to base camp. We had to go quickly as the water levels rise fast and we needed to cross the river to the camp. After a few failed attempts we found a spot to cross. I was drowned wet. Slept in a tent tonight.

Aug 06 Our last day in the Jungle and we went to see the potholes, an unusual rock formation where the rock bed looks like a piece of cheese. We had great craic jumping into the potholes and dispearring underneath the water and sliding under the waterfall where it was dry and you could look at it falling. We were rained on again on our way back to base. It dryed up again and with a couple of hours break between base camp and the final descent to Dabong we manged to dry our clothes inthe sun. During the way down, i found myself slipping a lot as my shoes were fairly worn down on the soles. I gave them to our guide when we got down and he was delighted. He reckoned he would have to spend a months wages to buy that same pair. The worn soles didnt bother him.
My train was due to depart at 8.30pm and I reached the station at 2.30pm. After a long lunch Uncle invited me go on a boat trip up the river. Off we went and got soaked again, One could only laugh. He brought me back to his house to shower and change (very decent of him). We got on very well and he brought me arond to all these eateries and introduced me to the locals which was very enjoyable. I was treated to great food and coffee, the train arrived at 9.15pm and I slept most of the 12 hours to KL on the nicest bed i had in 3 days.

Aug 07 arrived in KL and checked into the same guesthouse for 1 more night. I booked my bus ticket to Singapore (SP) for tomorrow, leaving at 10 am and due in SP about 4pm. I checked out a few big shopping centres too as I wanted to buy new trekking shoes but they dont go for them much in these parts. The shopping centres were amazing though, fabulously finished and built on a mammoth scale, needs to be seen to be appreciated. Also went for a spin on the MRT a monorail that travels 30 foot above the city streets, which was cool.

Thailands North and the end of a short era

2008-08-01T14:46:00.004+01:00

25 July Got up at 8am this morning to meet up with my baby sister, Caoimhe. I understood that she was staying in a nearby guesthouse but after finding my way there she hadnt even checked in but was due shortly. I started socialising on her behalf with the other tour guests and her ladyship arrived 90 mins later. After about an hour we parted ways and I went to check out the town and the tourist office. I went to the night markets and they were very good, if one wanted to decorate a house or a thai restaurant they could buy everything here. I decided to go to a town in the mountains called Pai tomorrow.

26 July Got booked on my minibus this morning for the 1.30pm bus to Pai. I decided with a few spare hours in CM that I'd have a free dental check up. I was pretty much aware what dental work I needed from a visit i paid to a Galway dentist last year. The job was going to cost E9000 in Ireland and after an inspection and consultation here I was quoted E2000. The job involved 5 crowns with a gold structure (least toxic) 4 fillings that involved removing the existing metal fillings and white ones put in their place , 2 porcelain onlays and other bits and pieces like x-rays and cleaning. The clinic was far more swish than back home and they had all kinds of dicky didos to minimise the trauma.
Got on the bus to Pai. It was a Hiace minibus which was fast compared to the old smokers that ply the route usually. It was E3.60 for the 3 hour run compared to 80 cent on the old yolk that took 5 hours. Feck it, whats money for. The scenery was amazing driving through the mountains and i believe there are 742 bends in the road between Pai and CM. Its was a great little hippy town and Ive organised a motorbike to go further into the mountains tomorrow.

27 July I rented that bike today and took off into the wilderness. the weather was a little dodgy but it cleared up and was glorius in the later morning. As I trundeled through the tree lined roads, and relatively traffic free, i found that I was singing away to myself. I saw young boys on the side of the road laughing at me so I felt my rendition of the Eagles 'Take it easy' was to be toned down a tad or two. I arrived at my destination Mae Hung Sung 120km away and had a look around. I was prepared to stay the night but the atmosphere in Pai was way better and I though I'd head back there for the night. The weather started to turn again and 120 km each way on a small honda 50 type scooter is a long long way on mountain roads. The rain started pouring down, monsoon style, and i felt that i was having dejavu. After 3.5 hours of hairpin mountain roads i got back to Pai. Pai has some great quirks and one of them was the total acceptance of a practice whereby one can go into a shop, buy beer out of the fridge and drink it on their picnic tables outside. Loads of people gather there drinking cheap shop beer and the pubs are left wondering where the punters are. At 60 cent for Singa or Tiger beer (good stuff) its easy to know why. The tables outside the shops are concrete with tiled surfaces. The tiling incorporates a mosaic of a chess board so playing draughts with bottle tops is a serious sport. The Tigers v the Singas. Going back to CM tomorrow and going to get a few fillings done.

28 July Didnt do much today other than take the 3 hour bus ride back to CM and I went to the dentist and made an appointment to get 2 fillings done tomorrow and 2 the following day. I also booked my flight to Kuala Lumpur.

29 July 9am went in the doors of the dentist and had 2 amalgam fillings removed and 2 white plastic composite fillings pit in their place. It took 2 hours and it wasnt entirely an enjoyable experience although no fault of the dentist. E60 later the 1st batch were done and same again tomorrow. I bought 2 Lonely planet guidebooks in the secondhand shop today, one for Mayalsia/Singapore and the other for Australia. Cant say i have the same enthusiasm for Malaysia as I do Australia, but we'll see.

30 July Had 2 more fillings today. I finished my first ever fictional book today and must say I enjoyed it. My mother has been on at me for years to start reading them but until now I resited in favour of factual stuff. I met up with 2 girls that I had met in Laos tonight. They convinced me to do a cookery course the following day which I agreed to. Should be interesting.

31st July Met up with Vicky and Maria for breakfast before we were whisked away to the cookery school via the local market to pick up supplies. I must admit i rather enjoyed it and took to the chopping and sizzeling quiet well. I made Pad Thai, a traditional noodle dish and Spring rolls. Also made Massaman curry and black rice pudding. There were 6 choices of dish out of 18 options so I picked my favorites although I hadn't a clue what black rice pudding was. The great thing was that you got the opportunity to taste all the others dishes too. That evening I traded in my Jeffrey Archer 'As the crow flies' book for E1 in the bookshop for a John Grisham novel 'The Broker' that i paid E3 for less the trade in. Havent started it yet but looks good. Tonight was my last night in Thailand so a good crowd from the cookery course, the boat cruise and a crowd from a trek the 2 girls were on came along and a few other straggglers. Backpackers will use any excuse to go out on the piss. Had a great night and felt sad to be leaving Thailand and a good few freinds that wont be going my direction for the rest of their travels. Thailand had good memories with Stephen and francis from home were out here, new freinds, great food and a very positive atmosphere in general. as a whole it was my favorite country so far, but its early days yet.

01st August Was collected by Tuk Tuk thismorning and went to CM airport to get my flight to KL. After the usual rig ma role , I boarded AK 897 bound for Malyasia.

So Long to the Dong & Sabaii dee to my trip with the Kip

2008-07-25T10:59:00.002+01:00

A little explanation of the title perhaps, Dong is the currency for Vietnam and the Kip is the currency for Laos. Sabaii Dee means 'Hello' in Laos.
12th July Left Hanoi & Vietnam today after a 22 day visit and flew to the Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Met 4 lads from Kilkenny on the flight and shared a taxi into town. Most of the accommodation in town was full and could not take 5 of us so I left them as I felt they would have it easier with a smaller group. I checked in at the very next place i visited for E5 per night and went out for dinner and a beer, a right of passage for any traveller arriving after a long days travel.
13th July I took the self guided walking tour around Vientiane today to see the sights. Its a pleasant enough place but not much going on. I booked my ticket to go North to Viang Veng, a place popular with backpackers.
14th July Arrived in Vian Veng today, a town famous for its 'Tubing' down the river. This is a real backpackers haven with loads of internet cafes, restaurants and bars. There are loads of places playing Movies, Freinds, Family Guy and the Simpsons continuously. I checked into the Champa Lao Guesthouse for E2 per night and it was a great spot. Situated on a cliff edge overlooking a bend on the river propped up by stilts, it has great views. Didn't do much today, just chilled out, had a look around and got to know some of the other residents.
15th July Went Tubing today with Brendan, a lad from Bantry today. Tubing involves floating down a fast river in a truck tyre tube and in the case of vian veng stopping off at the various bars along the way. The bar owners throw out a rope for you to catch and drag you in for a beer. We drifted down the 4km stopping off at a few of the 13 bars. The bars are a simple affair usually on stilts with swinging trappese type swings over the water and with a big cheer, one lets go and falls about 20 ft into the river below. Many people get rat arsed drunk and god knows why there're arent more drowned. Last night at the hostel we heard a girl screaming for help. She was clinging to a bridge below, had lost her tube and was very drunk. She had stayed too long at a bar and hopped into her tube as it got dark, lost her way and then lost her tube. She had decided against a life jacket too. Her 2 other freinds were missing and saw a search party in motorised canoe heading out to look for them. There are countless staff selling the trips but none at the end, helping people out of the water or checking off tubers that have arrived back. I pulled an American family and 2 dutch girls out another day that has missed the badly signposted exit. Thats the 3rd world I suppose and why its cheap.
16th July I wanted to do a short motorbike trip today but the rain was crazy. Our river burst its banks today and flooded nearby paddy fields and made some roads impassable. A bamboo bridge passed by in the water today as we ate breakfast. Watching from the balcony, it crashed into a bridge below to really loud cracking noise and we all cheered. It was amazing to watch. Monsoons are mad.
17-18th July Still in Vian Veng, pissin rain. Water level rising and watching freinds and family guy. Its OK though, lots of other backpackers hanging out, chatting in a great relaxing atmosphere.
19th July I decided to get the bus to Luang Prabang today, 135km North of VV. While I was waiting for the bus and watching the water levels rise, about 2 ft per day, there was a huge thunder type noise. I looked around and the whole cliff side of our guesthouse had fallen into the river including 3 chalet bungalows. I watched the bungalows float down the river and take out 2 bridges with it. The bungalows were evacuated last night. I had to laugh though, it was just the unbelievable spectacle of it all. I felt sorry for the management though (a mother and 2 sons) as their bungalows, their bridge, their concrete staircase and the site they were all on were all on their way down the river smashing up everything in their path. After all that drama my bus pick up arrived and I was on my way to Luang Prabang. Thought id get out while the going was good. On the journey the bus was weaving its way around avalanches on the road and all kinds of earth moving and farm machinery out moving earth off the only highway through the country. Its a very scenic road built by the french through the mountains. It was 300km and took us 7 hours. The bus was carring more people than seat and had plastic chairs all along the aisle with locals sitting on them. A nice finnish girl was put sitting up front on a collaspable chair beside the driver and his male assistant sitting on the steps the other side. She was obviously not enjoying it and i offered my nice proper seat to her. She was delighted and Ive been reaping the rewards of my kind gesture ever since. We (a finnish + english girl and an ozzie lad) arrived in LP & after the usual Tuk Tuk arguements we checked into a nice place. LP is a lovely town and I had my first glass of red wine in an age. It was a Chilean Shiraz and we paid E12 for it. I couldnt help thinking the waiter that brought it to us would only earn that amount in 3 weeks.
20th July Walking around LP today I was disapointed to learn that motorbike rental was not permitted in the town. They said it was due to the high rate of accidents but i felt it was more to do with the fall off in demand for tours etc to the locally located attractions. The roads were lovely around LP with nice little villages and photo opportunities rarely exploited on the back of a whizzing tuk tuk. I visited Phu si Hill to see a view of the town and the local Museum housed in former kings palace.
21st July Went to Tat Kuang Si waterfalls which was good. The falls are not particularly big (150 metre fall) but due to the high water levels in the area they are quiet spectacular. A staircase had been cut into the rock alongside the waterfall and as you walk up the stairs the water was gushing down them. Everyone got soaked but I had my 50 cent rain jacket in my bag. I decided to head back to Thailand along the Mekong river on a 2 day boat trip. While in the booking office a spanish couple on my waterfall trip came in and were telling me to go very early to the boat to get a good seat as it was 12 hours.
22nd July Arriving at the boat an hour early i got a great seat with lots of leg room. The boats were modern versions of traditional boats with car seats as the passenger seats and about 30% of them were hard benches. It was great, the views of the forest and riverside tribes were quiet amazing. It was a long 12 hours and thank god for a tatty Jeffrey Archer book i picked up in the guesthouse. 'As the crow flies' is a book about a young lad that builds up a property empire. Felt like I was back at work. Arrived at 'Pak Beng' 12 hours later, slower than it should be as we were travelling upstream in the wet season, and checked into a crappy place for E2 per night. Funny how ones mind set changes while travelling as i turned down a luxury hotel for E15 per night (a months wages for a local) and was quiet happy to save the difference. PB is a real outback place, with no electricity supply so all the electricity is generated by diesel generators. They turn them on at 5pm and they are switched off at 10.30pm. If you are not in your bed by then the place is pitch black. PB was muddy as hell and I could not walk in my flip flops as they kept coming off and getting wedged in the mud. I walked the mucky streets in my bare feet and felt like a local.
23rd July Lashing rain and mud squidgeing through my toes, I headed for the boat this morning at 8am and perilously decended down a muddy embankment with 15kilos on my back and 5 kilos on my front. Got onto our boat and it was nothing like yesterdays. It was all narrow teak benches and put up with it for 12 hours. Everybody ended up sitting and sleeping on the floor as we made our final journey up the Mekong towards the Laos/Thai border town of Huang Xai. We missed the 5pm deadline for the thai border so spent the night in HX. Had a dodgy Indian curry that night and the toilet has been my closest freind for the last day or two.
24th July Bearing in mind my delicate condition, I had sticky rice (rice mixed with gluten) for breakfast, a great way to clog up the digestive system and finally left Laos. I crossed the Mekong river (the border) in a motorised canoe to Thailand. It was good to be back to civilisation but i will miss Laos. It was a lovely primitive country with laid back freindly people which had a positive knock on effect on the tourists.
We got a bus that took through every two bit town and village on our way to Chang Mai (the capital of Northern Thailand) & hours later we arrived in the rain. We (me and an aussie lad called Mark) started negotiations with a plethora of tuk tuk and taxi drivers and after an arguement broke out between 2 of the drivers over one lad under cutting another we quickly exited in the back of our pick up truck taxi on our 3km (E1 each) journey into town. Our prefered guesthouse was full but got another place easy enough.

Hanoi and Halong bay

2008-07-12T11:16:00.002+01:00

06 July My first night in Hanoi and settling in to my room. At 12.05am there was a knock on the door and it was a lad from reception. He explained to me that the electricity company had called and the electricity in half of the hotel was going to be shut off in 30 minutes. He went on to say that the hotel next door had a similar room next door and if i wanted air conditioning for the night I could move over. Not having unpacked and the sweltering heat not a pleasant thing at night I agreed. There was a guy waiting on a motorbike outside to help me move. I suspected something was dodgy when they told me the hotel was now a few blocks away. I left my bag a decided to take a look first. The room was OK but they wanted $15, not $10 agreed in the other place. The other people I was travelling with did not know where I was so I decided not to take the room and went back to the original hotel. I demanded my key back and said I was Ok with no electricity. Electric was never turned off and it turned out the following morning that they had an American Couple on the way from the airport willing to pay $20 for my room. I also heard that they moved the Brazilian lads then with the same cock and bull story. They told me in the morning that there was no longer a room for me at the hotel and i was to leave. I checked in to another hotel up the road and it was far better.
The following day I met up with Seamus and Kathleen for dinner and they asked a bicycle taxi driver for directions to a particular restaurant. He offered to take us there for a price but we said we wanted to walk. He wanted to be paid for the directions, which we did, and then he gave us the wrong directions. The place was turning out to be a complete con job but strangely enjoyable pitting your wits against them. The locals are lovely people but people earning their living from tourists are to be treated with caution.
Deciding to take in some of the local culture we all went to the Water Puppet show for traditional singing, music and puppetry in water. It was good fun but didnt understand much. Hanging out with a great crowd including 3 Irish, 2 Brazilians and 2 English. Rosie the Irish girl asked if she could take a look at our hotel as she was too interested in moving from the first one. I said Id show her my room and when we got to the hotel the owner was not going to let her in. She kept saying to us No prostitute, no prostitute! I dont think she understood what she was saying, but probably meant to say No night visitors that have not paid to stay. Rosie was not impressed and didnt want to stay after that episode. I thought it was quite funny.
7-8th July Didnt do much in Hanoi as it was a bank holiday and nothing much was open in the line of museums etc so just ate, drank and slept. We went to the cinema to see Kung fu Panda which was a laugh.
9-11th July Went to Halong Bay today on a 3 day cruise. Halong bay is a Unesco World hertiage site and consists of a bay of over 3000 islands in the Gulf of Tonkin, part of the South China sea. The cruise on a traditional Vietnameses junk boat took us to various parts of the bay with an overnight stay on an island and the next night on the boat. The other travellers on the boat were a super lot and we enjoyed that bit. On the other hand the organisers were dreadful and everything they did was messed up. Changing boats, buses, hotels at the last minute. Waiting around for hours between buses and boats, not having the names of their passengers, losing passports, charging corkage on drinking water when we refused to buy their extorsionately priced water. We had bus drivers packing buses to squashing point while refusing to allow anybody sit up the front with them (additional two seats), banging windows, slamming doors and shouting and pushing us. One guy refused to pay corkage and one of the crew members grabbed his hand and physically tried to prise his fingers open. Me and seamus rallied the others and told the crew that we were not going to pay corkage on water. We were told 10 minutes later that we had to change boats. What a disasterous company and it is rife in Halong. Such a beautiful place ruined by the tour operators.
12th July Back in Hanoi and flying to Vientiane, the capital of Loas tomorrow. Final thoughts on Vietnam is that its a beautiful and interesting country with lots of interesting history. The people are lovely if they are not making a living from you. The southern parts are more freindly than the Northern.

Leaving Hoi An and the Paddy march to Hanoi

2008-07-05T11:45:00.004+01:00

01 July Not sure if that title is a reference to my origins or to the rice fields, but it felt like a bit of both. I left Hoi An today and after reading a reccommendation in the Lonely Planet Guidebook I decided I would take the train journey along the coast from nearby Danang (30 kms away) to Hue (my next desination). The girls on reception offered to organise a bus pick to Hue for me for $1 and couldn't understand that I wanted to go on a more inconvienient, longer and more costly option. The travel scene here is so easy with pick ups at your hotel and drop off where ever for next to nothing. Its too easy and largely uneventful and I do have a blog to keep. Taking the locals route I hopped on the back of a motorbike and off i went down to the local bus station. I got there and a woman selling stall food gave me all my info whilst relieving me of 50 cent for a bottle of water. The bus pulled up and resembled one of those yellow American school buses from the 1950's. The windows were the slide across type and everyone was hanging out the window. I was like the new circus attraction and the whole journey the other passengers were just looking at me. I often think that they must be well used to foreigners but then the bus travelling Vietnamese have come to town from rural areas and not used to my kind. An hour later I arrived in Danang. Danang is a large business town and doesnt really cater for tourists all that much, so english speakers are thin on the ground. The bus conducter told me to get off and I found myself at some big central boulevard place. With the help of a map and an nice young lady with an little english I agreed with a motorcycle taxi driver to take me to the train station. I dont think he understood and didnt have any reading glasses so he took me to whatI thought was the train station but turned out to be the airport, the gobshite. He was paid and gone but at least I could find out all about the trains and get proper taxis at the airport. Off again in a taxi to the train station. Got to the station and got my ticket, the ticket seller asked if I wanted a sleeper carraige and I said no. She gave me a sleeper ticket, too much hassle to change it so i took it. An hour later i was on board and my sleeper car was a cabin of 6 beds with a Vietnamese family of 5 already in there. My bed was the bottom bunk and 2 of them were sitting on it eating their dinner, great. They didnt have any English except the grandfather who fought in the war and kept saying to me whilst maintaining direct eye contact ' Viet Nam No.1 , Viet Nam No.1' I smiled, nodded and said 'yes'. My expected view of the coast line was obscurred by four heads of black hair and one silver so that was a balls. I hopped up to the top bunk (3 levels up) and slept for the rest of the journey. Arrived in Hue and taxied to the hotel. I checked in and went out for food to a restaurant arond the corner. The waiter was a lad named Tuu and he manged to convince me to take a tour with him on the back of his bike the following day.
02 July Met Tuu at 8.30am and off we went. He brought me down all kinds of back roads and alleys and saw lots of off the beaten track stuff. Saw the usual tombs, palaces, buddas etc. The town centre of Hue is a walled in town and i decided to do that myself. Late that afternoon I went in and it was too big to get a good look. Its perimiter is 10km and contains a walled in palace inside that again.
03 July I took a tour to the DMZ (The Demilitarized Zone) which is nearby. I saw tunnels used by the North Vietnames and US army bases and various sights that some Viet Nam movies were made. One of the unexpected events was a Dutch couple on the tour had there wallet snatched by local kids, and after a 2 hour delay we were on our way again. As we got home at the same time as expected I reckon they glossed over a couple of sights including a visit to the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a road through the jungle used by the North Vietnamese to move supplies north and south during the American war. we stopped on a bridge for 5 minutes and it was pointed to us and that was it. A visit to a tribal village was a running commentary as we drove past. I queried how we made up 2 hours and got some bullshit excuse about makin good time. It wasnt all bad and was good craic, i met 2 sound English lads and we went for dinner and beers afterwards. Im off to Hanoi (the capital of Viet Nam) tomorrow at 5.15pm by night bus.
04 July Didnt do much today, booked my night bus to Hanoi, looked around and met up with a Spanish couple for dinner. While in the restaurant somebody tapped me on the shoulder and said 'You not going to the Isle of Mann this year?' It was Kathleen Dwyer, whom i met at the IOM last year. She is from my village at home and our mothers were great freinds. Small world. She was travelling with a lad from Inverin ( a village 10km from my home house) and will be meeting up in Hanoi day after tomorrow. Got on the night bus at 5.15pm to Hanoi and about 11pm we stopped off at this roadside place. I got chatting to 2 Brazilian lads and we all decided to order the noodles with vegetables. They must of thought we were complete idiots as when our meal arrived it consisted of a bowl of 2 minute noodles with a couple of green things on it. All around us the locals were tucking in to fine big feeds, while mine was gone in 2 mouthfuls. When it came to paying the bill of 15,000 dong i refused to pay the full amount (backed by the 2 lads) we eventually agreed at 10,000 (40 cent) each and left, but not without a big local drama.
05 July Got to Hanoi at 7.30am this morning. About 10 minutes before the bus dropped us off, this lad hops on and started working his way around the passengers selling his hotel. The flier looked good, it was reccommended by the lonely planet and the price was right. We agreed to take a no obligation look at the place which included transport there. Along the way, he wanted to show us another cheaper option so before we could ddecide either way, we were there. Not liking his modus operandi, I didnt even look at the room but the 2 lads did. They liked it and were happy to stay. I got chatting to a girl from Belfast in the reception and she was happy with it too. I looked at the room and decided to stay. Had a walk around the 'Old Quarter' of Hanoi and stoppped in this place for lunch, I got chatting to this Dutch girl who started giving out about the Irish and their attitude to the Lisbon treaty.... she was nice though. Going out to dinner now with my freind from Belfast and the 2 lads.

Na Trang and up the South central coast

2008-07-01T04:57:00.002+01:00

28 June I rented a motorbike today and went off to see the sights. Saw big boulders with all kind of mythololgy attached, towers, museums and couldn't find other things. As i was checking out today and taking the night bus to Hoi An , I had to leave the hotel at midday and hang around until 7pm. So half day sightseeing on the bike and back to hotel for a final shower and another half day on the road again. The place is swelteringly hot (about 35C) and im sweating like a pig. I decided that what better way to while away 6 hours but to go to the local Hot Springs. Thap Ba Hot Springs centre caters for wealthy visitors and arriving on my Honda 50 amongst the luxury air conditioned buses and fancy cars must have been a sight. So, my money being as good as anybodys I went in and ordered the full monty. Mud bath, mineral bath, monsoon power shower, fluffy towel and pool access ($20). First off was the mud bath, probably full of beneficial stuff and from some amazing place, but I didnt bother reading the spoof on it. Your man directed me to my tub, which was a big timber yolk and turned on the mud flow. The stuff looked like hot concrete and I wondered if i get in will i ever get out. Hopped in for 20 minutes and covered myself in the stuff. It was in my eyes and everything and couldnt find any water to wash it off. Eventually, after my best Stevie Wonder search, i poured my drinking water on my eyes and was Ok. Then i was told to sit on a lounger under the sun for another 15 mins, I fell asleep and when I woke up I thought I was paralysed. The mud was baked hard on my skin and was mad keen to get it off. Shuffelling over to the showers i spent 30 mins scrubbing. Good for the skin, as all the mud grains exfoliate you. Down to the mineral baths where I was put in a big love heart bath on my own. All around me were couples and looking at me and feeling sorry for me. Even the staff started talking to me so I would not be on my own. Had they not passed any heed, I wouldnt have known any better. Not phased by that I went to the pool and relaxed for a couple of hours. As Im not one for relaxing that much, i decided to conduct an experiment with the local ant population. A empty can of red bull was on my table and I poured a few drops onto the table surface. The Ants gobbelled it up and started running around in circles like lunatics and about 20 of them died, heart attack or brain failure i expect..... moral of the story: avoid red bull!!
Got the night bus, which are special buses with large reclined seats. Its a bus of 31 beds and made in China. The South East Asians are smaller than us and they were a little cramped but OK. They were air conditioned and had a toilet so all in alll very comfortable. Fell asleep and woke up outside my hotel.
29 June So I had arrived in Hoi An. It is a very beautiful and scenic town which was spared Bombing by the americans so its old and full of character. I checked into a nice hotel a couple of Klms from the centre. It was a lovely hotel with pool and all the comforts for $10 per night. I didnt mind as I rented a motorbike and flew in and out of town to my hearts content. Saw all the sights and went for a great lunch in a Vietnamese/french restaurant. I went to a nearby town called Danang where there is a beach called 'China Beach'. It was the setting for an 80's American TV show about a Vietnam war medical centre. It was an American Gi resting spot and was beautiful. I drove the bike up to the top of Monkey mountain up roads that were rarely used and the jungle had practically grown over them. Only enough for a bike. Got to the top to this old US army lookout thing and lo and behold there were a couple of lads living there. They were as surprised to see me as I them. I made my excuses (Sing Jow! Sing Jow! Kaam urn! / hello hello, thank you) and left. I got back to town and spotted an American girl i met in kampot, cambodia and we went for a great dinner and a few beers.
30 June I went on a trip to 'My son' a Cham ruin (dont ask) and although I d like to think Im sensitive to ancient architecture and all that, it was little more than an auld bunch of red bricks. The yanks had bombed it however as they believed the Vietcong were hiding there. There was one site I had just looked at and this lad from the tour asked me if it was worth looking at. I replied 'Nah, the yanks flattened that one'... it turned out he was American, ouch.
The bus tour became a cruise went to a remote carpentry village so we could meet the villagers that made wooden crafts. It would have been more accurate to say 'we will bring you to a village with 3 shops' but thats tours for you. Got back to Hoi an and had dinner with a french girl from the trip who educated me in some fine french cuisine. Hoi an is beaitiful by night as all the riverside shops sell chinese lanterns and are really colourful at night. going to Hue tomorrow by train if possible.

Ho Chi Minh City to the South China Sea

2008-06-28T12:10:00.003+01:00

25 June Took the morning bus to Dalat from HCMC today. Its a 7 Hour bus Journey covering only 300 Klms. Dalat is a small French town in the Central Highlands and is slow going on Mountain roads. I met a couple of English Girls ( Sarah & Jo) on the bus and they are finishing the same trip as me but in reverse. Needless to say they were full of useful information. We all checked into the same guesthouse and went out for a nice feed and some Dalat red wine.
26 June We all went off for the day on a tour of the area and saw a silk factory where everything was done from the silkworm to the shop selling their stuff. Women in the factory were paid $3 US per day and worked 7 days per week. The noise and smell were terrible. Apparrently the men dont work there as they cant stick it. We also saw coffee, tea, and rice plantations. We visited a hill side tribe and sampled their rice wine (Poitin) strong but not bad. That night the girls got the night bus to HCMC and im off to Na Trang tomorrow at 7am.
27 June Got the 7am bus this morning to Na trang. Its a popular seaside resort with Vietnamese and foreigners with super beaches, islands and overlooking the South China Sea. On the way there we stopped at a roadside diner where Stir fried Vegetables with beef is available but without the beef is not, very strange. Im told that this is not uncommon and if its not on the menu, you dont get it. Met a few people on the bus, a kiwi, an english girl and a retired American couple. Had good craic with them but the driver left the English girl behind at the half way stop. We didnt notice until we reached our destination when the driver dumped all the bags on the footpath and didnt seem to mind that he had left her behind and that he had left her bag on the side of the road. We protested and he finally agreed to bring it to their office in the town. Thankfully we met her on the street later that night and all was well. Going to rent a motorbike tomorrow and see the sights.

Over the Border and to on Ho Chi Minh (Saigon)

2008-06-24T15:39:00.004+01:00

21 June I took a Tuk tuk today from Kampot, Cambodia to the border town of Ha Tien. On mostly bad roads the 45 km journey took 90 mins (A hell of a journey on a Tuk) . Its a small quiet and remote border crossing that has only few westerners crossing it. Anyway it was near kampot and what the hell. Close to the border i was transferred to a motorcycle taxi as they can go over the border hasslefree and bring me all the way to the bus station on the Vietnamese side. After a quick passport show and a form filled, I was in Vietnam. It was a good feeling to be in the country and was looking forward to the road ahead. I got to Hat Tien bus station and the touts ushered me over to the kiosk to buy my bus ticket to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). It was 12.15pm and was told that the next bus was at 8pm. Resigned to a long wait around in a nothing town i agreed and asked the price in US Dollars. At an official exchange rate of 18,000 dong to the dollar, i was offered 10,000. Refusing to budge on the rate (she reckoned I'd no choice) I told her that she could rub her arse with the ticket and walked off not knowing what i was going to do. The touts were gabbeling and jumping up and down realising their commission was going down the drain. I spotted another kiosk across the road and they had a minibus going via another town close by and on to HCMC. It was leaving in 40 minutes and was $13 for the 10 hour trip. Sold at 15,000 dong to my dollars. I was gleefully waving my ticket across the road at your wanno in the other office and i felt like Charlie Bucket in Willy Wonka with my Golden ticket.
With my 30 minutes to spare i popped into the 3rd world 'Lord of the Flies' restaurant next door for a feed. Realising that meat was not a clever option i asked in my best Lonely Planet Vietnamese for 'Hello, Rice I am a vegetable'. With sniggers all around I got a blob of rice and 5 slices of Cucumber. It filled a gap. 30 cent later (paid in Cambodian currency), i decided to empty the bladder and went over to the toilet block, it was 6 cent entry fee and i had no dongs and they had no change of a dollar. The inbred wanker would not to let me in. Despite my pleas and offers of cambodian money he refused. I went round the back and went in the bushes. He came out shouting and roaring Vietnamese like I was some kind of Vietcong prisoner. I was in the middle of my powerhose performance and his music was falling on deaf ears. It could of got nasty only for a group of observing bus drivers sitting nearby found the unfolding situation hilarious. I was done and fecked off.
I got on my nice air conditioned minibus with 3 seats to myself and proceeded via Rach Gia to HCMC. They drive like lunatics and there are no safety belts. My head was hopping off the ceiling. We got to Rach Gia and my next bus left 5 minutes later. What luck. 8 hours later we stopped at a roadside diner. it was a real locals spot and there was no english menus, speakers or any food on display that i could point at. The lonely planet dictionary had no words that matched the menu. Anything that the others were eating didnt look at all appetitising (it looked like fish bait and smelled worse) so i decided to go hungry and wait to get to HCMC.
Arriving at the bus station late at night i got a motorbike taxi to the hotel. Helmets are compulsory in Vietnam so I was given one to wear. I might of well had something from a tubberware party for all the use it was with a bit of string to hold it on. There are 4 million motorbikes in HCMC and they were all out to greet me. No regard was paid to traffic lights, roundabouts or right of way. It was the ultimate lunacy and being no stranger to driving motorbikes I wouldnt get out there in a fit. Arriving at my hotel via a unrequested alternative I paid the driver too much (unfamiliar with the currency) but it was only a dollar. He took it without a flinch. I checked into my nice but windowless room and had a feed and a couple ice cold beers. Glorious and one hell of a day.
22-24 June I did 3 trips while in HCMC. The city tour, Cu Chi tunnels & Mekong delta. The Vietnam war (called the American War here) is very much part of the tourist trail and the Viet cong were ingenious and equally ruthless as the Yanks. So much seen and worth a visit.
I met my sister Caoimhe and joined her tour for dinner and drinks and had a great evening. Shes heading South and on to Cambodia and Im heading North so it was a fly by rendezvous but good to see her. Off to Dalat tomorrow. It is a Old french town in the mountains and is supposed to be beautiful.

More Cambodia and Arrival in Vietnam

2008-06-22T11:59:00.002+01:00

13 June Arrived in Sihanoukville today to the usual reception of overly keen Tuk - tuk & motorcycle taxi drivers. It was pouring rain (monsoon season is coming up) but negotiations were going to take the required time. The Tuk tuk drivers love the rain, everyone is in a panic to get going and usually get their price. There were 4 of us and $2 US was the budget whilst the asking price was $5. $3 was finally agreed and off we went. 2 went to another hotel and I and another German girl went to our choice @ $5 per night for an ensuite room each. It was a good place and quickly got chatting to lots of people at the bar. There was a movie and then the Euro cup finals and coupled with a few beers had no problem sleeping soundly that night.
14 June Was raining again today but decided to rent a scooter and took off around town with Sara, the German girl in tow. S'ville is a small town of 77,000 but low and behold Sara spotted a girl she used to live with walking alongside these 2 americans. We swung 'round and ended up Dining and having a few drinks with them. Small world. Later that day I went to the 'Seeing hands' massage parlour. All the messeuse are blind and after their wages the money goes to help the blind in the region. I would love to say I enjoyed it but this blind lad had me in more pain than i can remember.
15 June Sara went to Bangkok and i rented the bike for another day and went off to a place called 'Stung Hau'. (The place was named after an American called 'Hau' in search of some value...... sorry bad joke) Its a fishing village that, according to the Lonely Planet, is the Home to the remains of the Communist Cambodian Navy fleet. Not being able to find the fleet and my Cambodian (Khmer) as rusty as the auld boats, i spotted a few white lads in a little eatery. I pulled the bike over, and with my overly small helmet sitting on my head like I was in the Vatican, i asked them if they spoke English, one of them replied "Nah, mate...we speak Australian!!!" needless to say after beers and food i was informed that "they towed away those ol' wrecks years ago". It was a great afternoon anyway. One of those guys owned a pub in town and invited me to join them that evening. i did and had another feed and a few beers. I got back to the guesthouse and another resident dragged me out again for a few beers and some pool. I had 7 beers that night and was pissed.
16 June With the head hanging off me I went off on the bike again to Ream national park, Nothing much to see. That evening With a couple of lads from the Guesthouse the 3 of us piled onto the bike (3 on a bike and sometimes more is quiet normal in these parts). We went down to the beach and went to one of the many beach bars. When we got back the bike wouldn't start. we pushed it up the road to a street lamp to see if we could get it going. A group of young lads gathered around to see if they could help. I let them at it and they said that the spark plug cap was missing. They happened to have one ( wonders will never cease) and fitted it. The bike started and i gave the lad $2. He wanted $8 and told him 'no' he took it out again and we started pushing the bike up the road. They came after us again and said $5. We agreed and when he had it done, i told him if he knows who did this, to tell them that 'today was a good day for you but a bad day for Cambodia'. He got the message.
19 June After a few days relaxing and doing nothing much I headed for a small town called Kampot. Famous for its Pepper and not much else, i continued on to a small seaside village called Kep 24 km away. I rented a bike and had a look around. During the French occupation of Cambodia, Kep was a popular spot with the french elite and the place was full of beautiful architecturally designed villas. Today they are in ruin but can still be viewed and they had the most fabulous beach front sites. Famous for its seafood, i dined at this restarant built on short stilts over the seashore. The tide ebbed and flowed underneath the floor & the food was devine.
20 June I stayed 1 night in Kep as loud nearby music and bed bugs kept me awake most of the night. I went back to Kampot and rented another bike and went off to see Bokor hill station, another french outpost, but it was closed due to road works.
21 June I headed off to the Vietnam border in Ha Tien by Tuk Tuk. The story to follow next post.

Bangkok to Cambodia

2008-06-13T04:56:00.002+01:00

02 June On my last day in Bangkok, I went to see the grand palace complete with with long shirt and trousers and closed shoes.... I was baking. It was lovely and all that but im Budda'd out of it. Headed down the town to the financial district where all the money is and went on the sky train, the huge MBK shopping centre (A huge place that sells everything) which i had trouble finding my way out, i guess its designed that way. I went to the cinema to waste a bit of time and all the blockbuster are in English with Thai subtitles... i found my self roaring laughing at stuff and nobody else were getting the jokes.... must have thought i was a bit mad. Walked around the parks and saw a few embassies but it was time to leave.
03 June Finally left Bangkok and got the bus to Pattaya, a town on the coast of the Bight of Bangkok, a popular tourist area for locals and foreigners. The bus cost me E2 about 50 cent per hour. Met up with Francis Murray ( a freind from Galway) and we travelled around in a rental car taking in the coast and living it up. We met lots of great people from Galway, Milan, Glasgow, USA, Israel, England and Drogheda.
09 June After 5 days R&R I took the train to the Thai/Cambodian border. I caught the Bangkok to Cambodia train half way along its route from some small little town that had no English staff or signs. Fortunately as i was sitting at the station contemplating my next move along came this Buddist Monk wrapped in an orange wrap around thing.. i smiled at him and he sat down beside me... low and behold he spoke good english and sorted me out with my 80 cent ticket. he was heading in the same direction and we sat and talked the whole way. he told me not to kill anything including mosquitos. Ive murdered about 20 since. Got to the border town of Arunya Prathet at about 6.30pm was was told by the local motorcycle taxi touts that the border was closed and Id have to stay for the night. Smelling a rat i said 'take me to the border for look' it was about 4 km away. along the way he stopped at an agency where they told me that they knew someone that could organise to get me through for E30. I declined their kind offer and proceeded to the border and sailed though with no bother. On the other side, the Cambodian border town of Poipet was a complete dump. Taxi tout were all over us like bees on a lollipop, i joined forces with 3 indians and negotiated our passage by shared taxi for $35 USD in total for a 160 km journey to Siam Reap. We were being harrassed into agreeing to paying $100, but told them to Foxtrot Oscar. Well we finally escaped the onslaught and we got going. the road to poipet was beyond dreadful. take the worst road you can imagine and divide by 10, then take away the tarmac. we did this in a car and should be limited to 4WD. The road was daft, full of cars, bikles, trucks, buses, homemade car thingys with people hanging off them. After all that i checked into the same hotel as my indian freinds.... exhausted.
June 10 Again with the help of my new freinds we hired a 4 seater Tuk Tuk for $15 USD for the whole day and proceeded to take in the sights, Siam Reap is the home to Angkok Wat, the biggest and most famous Temple in the worls. It took all day to see them all and it was amazing. My gut again was brimmed up with temples. That night I went into town for some dinner and a look around. I was approched by this tout a young lady wanting me to eat at her familys outdoor street restaurant. I looked at her menu and laughed at the price, $3.50 for a main course, and quick as a flash out came the 2nd menu with the same meal for $1. i said ok and was put sitting beside this young lad. He was a local, 19, and had paid the same. I was delighted with myself. we got chatting and it was great to chat to an english speaking local that was not looking for money, sadly something most tourists don't experience as they are ever so freindly when the situation allows.
June 11 Took the bus to Phnon Penh (the nations capital) today. Its an unusual city as it was designed by the french with beautiful wide tree lined boulevards and lots of period french buildings. However as Cambodia is so poor, it has fallen in a state of disrepair and dont look good. Rubbish piled up on the street and the stench in some parts have people going around with surgical masks on. The few footpaths are full of stalls, car parked on them etc, so one finds oneself having to walk on the road with bike and car driving all aroun you. Quite mad but exhilarating at the same time. I had to laugh today as a truck was reversing up the road and the warning tone for large vehicle is usually a beep beep sound, here it was an electronic version of 'Santa Claus is coming to town' I hired a motorbike taxi for the whole day yesterday to take me around all the sights for $10. The driver was very good, spoke good english and told me his name was 'Jake Bullshit'.... i wasnt too sure about the 'Jake' bit. With him I saw the Infamous Killing fields where 1000,s of cambodian were murdered and buried by Pol Pots regime, the prision museum where they were tortured, and the grand palace and national Museum. I am staying at the 'TAT gusthouse' but should be renamed 'tatty guesthouse' but the place is poor and the room is cheap so what the hell. The owners are very nice and is family run with all the sons and daughteres working in it. After 10pm, the mother and father go about their business in their Pyjamas and the fathers office is bang in the middle of the dining/ sitting area. Heading to a seaside town of Soukaville today for a look around the coast of Cambodia.

Bangkok

2008-06-11T05:20:00.002+01:00

Well, I arived here safe and sound at 7am and was checked into my hotel at 8am. The journey was great as i had booked a sleeper seat which miraculously turned into a bed at 9pm. everybody was told to go to sleep and breakfast was at 6am. no bother i was wrecked. on the journey i was put sitting opposite an elderly thai lady who spoke no english. She avoided eye contact even though my head was 3 feet from hers. I decided i conduct an experiment and i said in my best thai 'Saw wa dee khap'"which means 'hello, nice to meet you' well, she called over her grandson to translate and we were chatting for hours. she wanted to know all about ireland, my travels and how much money westerners made. anyway got to bangkok, had a kip for a few hours and decided to explore. I headed for the grand palace and despite being misled and lied to by all kinds of sheisters got there a couple of hours later (only 10 mins down the road). I was refused entry as i was not wearing long trousers and had flip flops on. They tried to get me to take a tuk tuk back to my hotel to change and take a tour in the process. no thanks. I saw a whole heap of buddas, temples, even one lying down that was 46 meteres long. Other site was the infamous Kho san road, ate great food from street vendors for less than E2. Had a 30 min foot massage for E2.40 after all my walking. funny thing its so cheap to a point you start to feel guiilty but at the same time i feel annoyed when trying chancing there arm to swindle you out of a euro. Applied for my vietnamese visa today and should have that wednesday morning.

Phuket & on the way to Bangkok

2008-05-31T08:30:00.002+01:00

26 May I arrived in Phuket by plane from Ko Samui. I was bundled into a minicab. (A Toyota hiace with 15 seats) It was about a fiver cheaper than a taxi so i gave it a go. Never again. It took 3 hours to go 25km as they went from office to office looking to fill the bus before they embarked on the huge 25km journey across town. I decided to go to a place called Karon Beach to the Bazoom hostel and guesthouse. when i got there at 11pm it was closed for renovation. So much for the latest Lonely planet guide book. Anyway the ever opportunistic Thai minicab driver had a brainwave and he knew a 'werry nie plates' (very nice place) in Patpong. Anyway, i arrived at this place which was an overpriced dump. I thought i was doing yoga when i lay down on the mattress with my head and feet up in the air and my ass 6 inches from the floor. Anyway headed down the town and found a nicer place (Tatum Mansion) for way less and booked in for the following 2 nights. Funny room but i liked it, it had no window but had a nice bed, a/c and cable tv, dvd, mini bar etc so it was ok.
27 May I got talking to a tuk tuk driver this morning and he said he'd bring me all around the island on my own 4 hour private guided tour for E12. He was a nice auld skin and spoke good English. Deal!, i said and off we went. He was 43 and had 7 kids...we were going to get on great. Our tour took in lots of things including a trip to Tesco. This island was badly hit by the Tsunami and he witnessed it. He said ' I run up hill with seaside on my feets!' his body language spoke volumes. That night i went to the hugely popular 'Simon cabaret'. This was a huge auditorium with comfy leather seats, a/c and all the stars were ladyboys! All in the name of research i say, and they were very good looking. As Stephen Corbett said to me in Ko Samui, if you had to choose between the ugliest girl in Ireland or the best looking LB...which would you choose? waist up no bother.
28 May Went on a speedboat trip to Phi Phi island, where they shot 'The Beach' a movie starring Leonardo de Caprio in 2000. I saw Coca cola drinking monkeys that swam and entertained visitors. They were wild but they were used to us. I tried to give one of them some banana but it wanted sweets. I remember a few monkeys in Ireland with that attitude. Went to a few other paradise islands but was getting bored after a while. All selling Cornettos for E3.50. It was a beautiful part of the world though.
29 May I left Phuket this morning, but not without my daily dose of drama. The hotel had a 24 hr laundry service which i engaged but 36 hours later there was no sign of my laundry. The receptionist wanted me to check out on time but i said 'no pants, no chance' she failed to see the funny side. Anyway i was told to go for breakfast and they would have it on my return. Sure enough it was all there. I got a motorcycle taxi to the bus stop, on the back of a honda 50 with my bag and baggage (as my old primary school teacher, Mrs Mullarkey used to say). Must have been a sight. I took the bus north to Takum Pa and then east to Khao Sok national park. I checked into 'Our Jungle House' and that evening i went 'Tubing' (sitting into fully inflated truck tyre tubes) down a river which was slow but relaxing. I whacked my arse off a big submerged rock but otherwise was good. The Guides 10 year old son joined us but was a real show off, a nice lad though but funny how kids are the same everwhere.
30 May I rented a motobike today and went off into the national park. I went to this huge dam and drove around for a bit. On the way home the heavens opened up and was caught in a monsoon shower with no shelter. I eventually foud a hut on the side of the road but the damage was done. Everything was soaked including my lonely planet book, phone and clothes. I dried everything as best i could but in a humid evironment thats not easy. Funny though driving home in the downpour was strangely enjoyable...the rain was warm and quiet pleasant. I had a great meal and a nice beer in the restaurant of the guest house and all was forgotten.
31 May Got the bus from the entrance to the park today to a town called Phun Phin. It has a train station where the Bangkok train passes through. Im booked onto the 6.22pm train with sleeper bed, will take 11 hours........ah the good life.

The 7 Day Detox Program

2008-05-25T06:27:00.000+01:00

I finished my 7 day fast yesterday. What a week. I was given a heap of things as part of my overall detox program. I had herbal supplements with all kinds of minerals, syllium husk drinks for fibre, acidophulis for good bacteria and had to drink broth soups (dishwater) coconut juice, carrot juice, liver flush drinks which consisted of olive oil, garlic, ginger, cayenne pepper and toped with mango juice to make it bearable. That’s what went in. What I did to get things out was an entirely different matter, Matter being the appropriate word. The ‘Colema’ was a twice daily task which involved lying on a board with a rod the size of a pencil up my arse and warm water mixed with garlic or coffee flushing in and out. In reality it was a weird experience. The first 2 days were flushing out the food still in my system but the following days things were coming out that resembled nothing that ever came out before. Anyway without going into too much detail about it, it wasn’t the worst and I was glad all that foul crap was in the toilet rather than being in me. Other things were steam baths, meditation, yoga and umbookoo massages. They massaged your belly and prodded the intestine which aided all the stuck stuff find its way to the outside world. Anyway its done and im eating again. To break the fast a carefully designed menu of small portions of fruit and lighty steamed veg is on offer. As the days pass more adventurous items are allowed. I lost 5kgs which is about ¾ stone. Im sure I have that back on again soon, but according to the iridologist I had very clear eyes and was in excellent health. So with my body’s NCT and a full service under my arm Im off to Phuket and Ko Phi Phi island (where they made the film ‘The Beach’ and a James Bond Movie.

Arrived in Thailand

2008-05-14T05:23:00.002+01:00

Finally I left the comforts of home and headed off. having left Heathrow at 10.30pm, after flying from galway via dublin, I flew through the night to Bangkok. Funny though when you flying east the morning arrives quicker and the sun was up within a few hours. The Planes now have tellys in the headrests so i was treated to lots of CDs, DVDs, computer Games and a flight progress map. The technology was telling me that i was flying over Afghanistan so i decided to take a look out my window to see. I had to laugh to myself as there is no way in hell that the yanks were going to catch bin laden down there. The mountains, valleys, deserts and no roads were visible as far as the eye could see. A little while later we flew over the mouth of the ganges which was massive and then over Burma to see wher our money is going but all seemed fine at 32,000 ft. Arrived in Bangkok to a lovly new airport and connecting to my flight to the island of Ko samui was no problem. I thought i was in some South Pacific island with painted open top buses delivering us to a bamboo made terminal. Stephen Corbett met me at the airport and we went to the health resort. I am about to start a 7 day fast with all kinds of mind and body treatments in store. While im coming around to my fast ive had 90 minute massages for E13 and having fabulous lunches for E1.50. There are mad things here with 20 people packed onto a small pickup truck, a family of 4 on a moped and petrol sold in whiskey bottles on the side of the road. anyway will fill you in on how the fast goes next time. R

My Itinerary

2008-03-26T16:08:00.017Z

Hooray, i booked my flights today. The following is the route/approximate dates:

10 May. Dublin - London Heathrow

10 May. London - Bangkok, Thailand

Overland to Singapore

10 Aug. Singapore - Darwin

Overland to Sydney via perth & Melbourne

10 Sept. Sydney - Nadi, Figi

17 Sept. Figi - Christchurch, New Zealand

15 Oct. Christchurch - Auckland

18 Oct. Auckland - Santiago, Chile

18 Jan. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - London

19 Jan. London - Dublin.